Hiking (with the hounds)

Spent some time in the Whites with my BIL and nephew over the weekend. My nephew has the bug to get the "White Mountain 4000 footers" all 48 peaks in the Whites that are over 4000 ft. He had never been on an overnight backcountry trip and many of the 48 peaks are not attainable without going overnight so my BIL thought we would do a single night and bag 4 peaks in one trip to see how serious he is about the goal. I decided to tag along with Oliver.


Up Liberty Springs to the Liberty Springs campsite. Can we go yet?



Liberty Springs campsite is at 4000ft just 300 ft below Franconia Ridge. The campsite is maintained by the AMC, $8 gets you a platform, a privy, a bear box and fantastic water from the nearby spring, quite the deal.



After setting up camp and dropping the packs it's up to the ridge to bag the first two peaks, Liberty at 4459Ft and Flume at 4328ft. From the top of Liberty.



That is Little Haystack in the background at 4760ft although it doesn't count on the list of the 4000 footers because it stands less than 200 ft above the col on the ridge from Lincoln. Tomorrow it's north along the ridge to get Lincoln at 5089ft and Lafayette at 5260ft.



But for tonight it's back to the tent for the night, it's gonna be cold.

 

Here is a typical shot of the ridge trail. That is the top of Lafayette.



That rock face on the other side of the notch is where the "Old Man in the Mountain" used to be before it fell off. Here is my version "Hound in the Mountain"



Happy hound at the end of the second day.

 

Nice shots and trip Dave. Thanks for taking us along.

 

That looks like it was a good time Dave!

 

Thats some awesome stuff there Dave Im wondering do you ever have any problems with your dogs feet? Mine keeps tearing his pads up just from running around in the back yard and its all just dirt and grass no rocks or anything like that. Im looking into getting him some boots to help protect his feet.

 

They haven't had any paw issues, although we are out and about several miles most every day. I do carry "Mushers Secret" with me in the winter, it helps to prevent ice balls between the pads, I know some people who use it all year just as a conditioner, Bag Balm is good stuff too.

 

Giz has an awful time with snow packing in her paws in the winter Dave. What is Musher's Secret?

I was looking at the pics of everyone again today and ran across yours with one of your hounds jumping up, meeting you bending over... nice pic!

 

I'm not sure what's in it, some sort of wax that keeps the ice from binding to the hair between the pads. You should be able to find it in most pet stores.

[quote="Stinny, post: 102355, member: 276"I was looking at the pics of everyone again today and ran across yours with one of your hounds jumping up, meeting you bending over... nice pic![/quote]

That's Oliver! I get attached to all of my pets, as anyone naturally does. But, have you ever had that one pet that you seem to connect with on a different level? That's Oliver!

 

That's Oliver! I get attached to all of my pets, as anyone naturally does. But, have you ever had that one pet that you seem to connect with on a different level? That's Oliver![/quote]

 

Great pics Dave.

 

You get to see some beautiful places, some of it looks similar to Colorado, just... different.

Thanks for the pics!

 

I picked up some new hiking buddies a few weeks ago.
Oakley and Jackson, a good mix of a bunch of different hound dogs.


I have been working with them around the house, getting them used to a leash. I have a trail in the woods behind my house and they are staying close to me on that so I decided to take them on a "big dog hike" with the rest of the pack up a mountain.

Ready-set.


GO! Big dogs gone.


go, pups not so sure.


They are trained to stop at all the trail markers.

 

The mountain is Beech, with cliffs on one side down to Echo lake and Mansell Mtn on the other side.

Some giant boulders on the cliff side, this one is as big as a house. I just noticed Bailey is taking a dump in this one. Reminds me of Phil Robertson "I love to take a dump in the woods, doesn't get much more organic than that."


Canada cliffs overlooking Echo lake.


The fire tower atop the mountain


Free lunch.

 

Beech mtn hike contd:

Long Pond from the other side of Beech.


Mansell Mtn across the way from the side of Beech, Long Pond is down in the valley.


Cooling off in the pond on the way back to the car.


The after party at home


Human mileage:
4.2

Hound mileage:
Oliver 6.6
Willow 6.5
Bailey 5.5
Jackson ? No gps collars for the pups yet but they stay pretty close
Oakley ?

 

Wow
Lots of great pics
Having your companions along ,PRICELESS

 

Fantastic pictures. With the dogs, even better. Mine don't get to go very far. Bad manners. They pull me over.

 

I'll be in NH with my son this w/e, no pooches on this trip. We are bagging a couple peaks in the pemi wilderness in the whites. Pics sometime on Sunday pm

 

I'm doing the Mt Washington "Seek the Peak" fundraiser for the observatory this weekend. Myself and my daughters with the "big dogs", my sister's family and my brother's family. We will be a group of 10 with 4 dogs! Some of them are not regular hikers...could be a looooong day.

 

Hey Saves
Try one of these two on those big unruly labs to correct the pulling.

My go to training leash. I just made two of them for the new pups, cost me $3 in supplies at the hardware store. Cheap and effective, the harder they pull they more pressure it puts on them, they get the idea quickly. They work best if the dog is not wearing a collar, use a small diameter nylon rope so it slides through the ring easily and puts all the pressure in a small space on the dogs neck. You can spend a ton of $ on anti-pulling collars and harnesses, I haven't found anything that works as well as these, and if you loose it or the dog chews or otherwise destroys it, no big deal just make another one.


Using a regular collar and leash, run the leash down the dogs back then around their "waist" looping back over the leash at the top of the back. Here is Oliver! Modeling the idea, this is also very effective. The pressure when they pull is now put onto the dogs core in a spot that is uncomfortable to them. You might find this setup needs to be readjusted once in a while esp when the leash is slack, but that's good cause then you know it's working. You can see in the picture it's got his attention and I'm not even holding the other end of the leash.