Winter walks

I'm not sure what I'd be doing this winter if I wasn't on my dog walking craze. Last year I built the boardwalk and playstation K9, but last winter had better weather for outdoor building projects. Probably I'd be indoors on the computer all day, eating and gaining weight, which I'm trying to combat this year.


I had most of the day free on Sunday so I did a long hike with Sparky, about eight miles. He is my favorite hiking buddy. He pulls, but he will ease up when I ask him. I don't have back pain the next day like I do after a long walk with Mad Max. I started off planning a long hike, which Sparky didn't know or he might have paced himself a bit in the beginning. Or maybe not. He was still going strong at the end whereas I was feeling the miles at that point.

Fortunately, Sparky decided NOT
to take us down this bank into the
Rivanna river below.

We had a great walk though. We crossed a stream that I usually avoid and went out to the river overlook. There turned out to be a lot of trails over there that I hadn't been on before so we broke new ground and now have some new areas to explore. Sparky knew we were someplace new and he gave me a look a few times that really looked like he doubted my navigation skills. I told him that I was an Eagle Scout, but he was unimpressed.


Some of the "new" territory we covered seems to be used mostly by horseback riders. In some areas I saw one runner's footprints along with a dog, but in some areas Sparky and I appeared to have been the only domesticated beings to pass that way since the last snow. Sparky is far more interested in canine smells and signs rather than wildlife, but he did manage to grab a dead deer part and tote it along for a ways when I wasn't looking.

There were chunks of ice floating down
the river on Sunday. I had thought about
putting the canoe in, but hiking was
probably a better idea.

I didn't have as much time on Monday, but I did get out with Maya for about four miles. She's the best dog to take when I want an "easy" day because she doesn't pull at all but is happy to match my pace, slower or faster, depending on how I'm feeling. It was a good walk but the warmer temperature meant that the trail was muddy. I was doubly glad that I had Maya because any other dog surely would have pulled me down as we were slipping and sliding quite often. Frozen ground is better for walking and it will be frozen again very soon.