Middle Cottonwood

Dragged the Man out of bed this morning at 5 thanks to some barking lessons from MamaLu. The Lady is a fabulous place called Miceland, and should be back late today. We all miss her terribly, but the only good thing is the Man tends to give us more food and snacks.
Since he was up this early, he decided to take us for a hike to Middle Cottonwood... it's about 20 minutes door to trailhead, and you can go in as far as you like. We went about three miles today, but turned off in a new direction to scout out some new land. There must have been some sort of avalanche or flood or something, as this valley was full of upturned trees.

In several places, the Man kept bitching about not being able to find the trail, and doesn't rely on us to tell him the way. What are we, chopped liver? Oh wait, mmmm... chopped liver.

We left him on the trail and went exploring way ahead and way to the sides, he moves so slow. We didn't see another person the whole time, but smelled lots of animals, but would come back and check on him occasionally and to cajole a snack or two.

MamaLu won't have anything to do with the log bridges that I love to run across at full speed. She tromps through the water, and WILL NOT go across those. What an old lady.

Here's some photos.... Can you find my butt in this one?

 













What about this? MamaLu and I were getting a drink and tried to blend with the rocks in so the Man wouldn't see us...

Here's a better shot of the valley, and the trail... it's much less traveled than the main one.

And here I am trying to show the man the correct way to go up the trail....

And lastly, a view of the giant water bowl.

Some baby pictures

When I do things like destroy your new sunglasses case or eat a pen, don't forget how cute I was.

Short hike to Middle Cottonwood

Nine mile hike, as easy as falling off a log (bridge)

Took the people on a nine mile hike yesterday at South Cottonwood Trail. Still nice and green. We got out there super early and had the trail to ourselves for about four hours. There were log bridges that I was not too fond of, especially since I fell off the first one, and got completely soaked. After that, I was able to run across them full speed with lots of confidence. After the hike, everybody took naps, so it was a good day for all. Here's some photos. Keep in mind it was 73° the whole time. Ah, summer has arrived. Too bad winter is coming soon. The man ordered firewood (he's learning to not wait until the last minute.) A friend sent him this email:   

I am getting a truck of Douglas fir, standing dead for over 2 years, next week, probably the best load of the year.  $160 a cord, Cut to whatever length you want, split delivered and stacked.  Last truck of fir for the year, after that it's pine. 

We will stay super warm this winter thanks to this. The lady starts school next week, and Mr. Grumpy Hank will have his 15th birthday next week. Right now, I'm enjoying the sunshine and hikes!

 

What I want to be when I grow up

As it was my six-month birthday yesterday, I am announcing my goal in life. I want to be bigger than this guy. I'm getting closer every day.

Hike from Sypes Canyon to the M

Well I finally made the people do part of the huge trail everybody talks about - it's 20 miles long - we didn't do all of it. We could only handle 6.41 miles. The ridge has a Run across the top of it (see old video here, note especially at 1:22 and 2:57). I think it's funny that the web page with the run on it has a "view in couch mode" button at the top.

It was a really nice hike, here are the stats (click to enlarge):

So that means we walked from the left side to the right side of this photo:

Along what they jokingly call a "path":

We started in a valley, walked this ridge, went down in a valley again and across another ridge to the road:

So there was a change in the elevation from start to finish; we gained and lost  over 2000 feet:

The part about in the middle drops very sharply and then very steeply goes back up the other side:

 But there is a forest in the middle:

We could finally see our destination (more or less):

so we arrived, five hours later, after 6.41 miles. We don't break a speed record, but we sure broke our endurance one. Can't wait to do it again.

Chickens at Otto's Farm