Hiking (with the hounds)

Thanks for the pics. Beautiful views. Nothing like a mountain top view of the area.

 

wish I could take my dogs hiking, I could take one but not the other, she isnt built for hiking distances. Hoping to get out this fall for some decent 20-35 mile loops but we shall see. Great pics in the thread guys.

 

First hike of the winter. Official winter not for another three weeks, but it works for me, I love hiking in the winter. There is just something about putting fresh tracks in new snow. We got a couple of crusty inches overnight for Thanksgiving. Today was a beautiful day and I didn't feel like going to work, so I didn't

 

Cool pics Dave. Bells. And are those tracking collars?

 

Awesome pics, Dave. The two boys are getting big. Are they almost full grown?

 

Not sure how big they are going to get, bunch of different breeds in them, coming up on 7 months so probable about done.

Yep, hound dogs like to run, GPS collars to go find them when the deer don't take the hint from the bells.

 

Fantastic pictures as usual Dave. Sure looked like a great day.

 

Crampons are overkill for the conditions I use them in, and I do more hiking than climbing.

I have used "Stabilicers" brand they work well, but I found "Microspikes" last year, I like them much better, they are easier to put on/take off, offer amazing traction even on glare ice and the spikes don't wear nearly as quickly as the spikes in the Stabilicers. The microspikes have a two year warranty, I put about 400 miles on a pair last winter. The spikes were worn to the point where the grip on ice was not so good and a few of the straps had broken so I returned them and they sent a brand new pair no questions.



https://kahtoola.com/product/microspikes/

 

The Boss announced the Family marching orders for the weekend this morning, it sounded like a full schedule and there was no mention of hiking. Then I heard the weather liars on the TV talking about how it was going to get stupid cold later today, stay that way all day tomorrow and then storm on Sunday, so the prospects for squeezing in a hike didn't sound good anyway. What to do? Call the other boss and take the day off.

One of my favorite spots is cut off from easy access in the winter because the park closes the road, I have to walk in about 1.5 miles. There was about 6 inches of powder and someone had recently been through on skis, there are literally 100's of miles of roads in the park closed to vehicles, makes for some excellent X-country skiing. I'm not much of a skier, been years, but I've thought of taking it back up and maybe trying some skijoring with the hounds.



Here we are on the way up the mountain.



About half way up you break out of the trees and cross a couple of open fields, lots of blueberries here in the summer and a beautiful spot to pick.



The top of this mountain is broad and flat, there is a huge stand of old growth trees covering the top, the new growth on the edge of the stand had all their branches covered in a thick frost today, pic doesn't really do it justice, it was beautiful.



Here is the spot I was after. I have this pic before the new pups were added this past summer, so I thought I should get another with the whole pack. Oliver! gets a little impatient sometimes when I'm getting the rest of the pack lined up.



I didn't notice till we got home, but Jackson apparently had a little mishap. I think he probably clipped a branch jumping over a downed tree at full chase speed. Not that big of a deal, it didn't bleed at all but it was all the way through his skin and a little bigger than I was comfortable with trying dermabond on, so we went to the vet. A local anesthetic, a couple staples and some antibiotic, $150, turned out to be an expensive hike.

 

Very nice DaveGunter! Thanks for sharing and those hounds appreciate that great time you bring them on! Beautiful!

 

I'm a bit too nervous to venture into the backcountry with 5 hounds and 2-3 feet of snowpack and some monster drifts, so I did a little snowshoeing with the hounds in the woods near my house. It's all flat and no views, but still quite the workout. Very quiet in the woods with that much snow on everything. The big dogs ventured off into the deep stuff, but little Bailey stayed right in my tracks.

 

Nice pics Dave!

 

You certainly don't have to go far to get a workout in snowshoes. Haven't been on them that much but found they were a lot of work.

Nice pics of the snow.

 

Got out for a nice walk with the hounds today, and my wife came along to boot! We stayed on the "carriage roads" a system of gravel roads built by the Rockefeller's for horse and carriage. This road makes a 4 mile loop around a pond with a beautiful cobble stone bridge over the stream that feeds the pond.

Here is the pond with the road along side.


View from the top, the pond and the the Atlantic.


The cobblestone bridge.

 

I just read all the posts on this thread. Love the pics of the dogs growing up together. My wife and I lived all the pictures. I miss Maine, I didn't live there long enough.

 

Thanks for sharing your day with us. Nice walking path.