I’ve been pretty exhausted, and my backpacking trip plans have been withering and dying as I don’t want to do a solo trip, so for today’s last hike of the -a-thon, I convinced Jason to come with me to Cougar Mountain. Again. 🙂
We did our standard four mile loop, getting Neo some exercise so he can be “a good dog is a tired dog”.
It was also fairly uneventful, aside from the way down.
We ran into two balloons, tied to a box, underneath a tree. They were pirate balloons! (Oh no! Forest pirates. Argh matey, walk the limb!) A little sign noted it was for someone’s birthday, and sure enough, it wasn’t long until we started seeing little kids (oh, five or six? I’m bad at estimating kids’ ages) running up the trail, adorned with plastic pirate swords and belts. Occasionally we’d see an eye patch or vest, too. And lots of parents walking along side them. Now that’s how to have a fun birthday treasure hunt, argh!
Neo was very disappointed in all the hiking smells of yesterday, when he couldn’t join in, so today was a short hike for him at Cougar, in via Shangri-La and out via the Tibbett’s trails. Jason decided to join us for this three mile hike, making it an outing with the whole pack.
It was a cool morning, making fleece a good accompaniment, but otherwise was very quiet and free of people. So, we gave Neo a bit of off leash time, to see how he’d do. Like the good little scout he is, he tried to stay in front (though wasn’t really concerned if he wasn’t), but kept strictly to his duty of making sure that the whole pack was visible to him at all times. If Jason lingered behind, he’d turn and wait for him to catch up. If we tried to separate by a couple dozen feet, he’d turn, wait for the person in the back, even as the person in front passed him, then zoom back to the front just long enough to have to turn and wait for the person in back again. He kept us both in view, but didn’t quite figure out the trick of just walking in the middle. It was cute, and gave us a chance to practice off leash recalls. It wasn’t bad, but let’s just say he has more work.
I’ve taken the keyboard back from Neo, and took him back to Cougar Mountain. We did the four mile loop along Cave Hole Trail and Quarry Trail back to Red Town Trail. A loop that I, Neo, and everyone in the greater Puget Sound has probably taken at some point – maybe many dozen times, particularly at running speeds.
It was once again shockingly empty, coming across less than a handful of people, most of them trail running. No pictures, just a lovely hike and a lot of fun sniffing for Neo. An excellent afternoon out, Washington style.
Hi! I haven’t gotten to write on here until now, but my mom left the screen unlocked, so I’m writing this trip report for her. If you haven’t met me, I’m Neo. I’m almost 1 year old (my birthday is next Wednesday; I want toys and cookies and chicken and more toys and cookies) and I’m a standard poodle. No, I’m not a girl, no matter what you think of poodles. Humpf!
Can I come out now?
My mom kept talking about “Paradise”, but didn’t seem to be too inclined to get out of bed this morning. I guess it was all good for me, because she packed up my stuff into that great-smelling thing she puts on her back when we go fun places. I beat her down the stairs and tried to jump into the car on my own, but she always catches me just before I leap and hefts me in, while I try to flail my legs to tell her I could do it on my own. Ever since I had shoulder surgery, she’s so picky about these things. At least it wasn’t a long drive, but she made me wait so she could heft me out again when we got to the place where all the other cars parked. It’s so hard to wait once I hear that parking break go on!
Why are we waiting?
There were hardly any people on the trail, so I got to sniff around instead of walking right next to mom. I like that better. But she kept stopping at these big giant sticks coming out of the ground (that usually had some pretty interesting scents on them, if you ask me). Then she’d point her grey box at me until it beeped, but I’m kinda used to that thing by now. I’m not real fond of it, not when there are so many things to smell, but she’s got the cookies.
One of these? I'm not a fan!
But she never stopped for too long, and I don’t think I missed any good smells. I gotta tell ya, it’s a pretty interesting place, this “Cougar Mountain”. I don’t know what a Cougar is, but it sounds pretty interesting if this place is named after it. There were lots of these long flat bits, with strange bumps down the middle. I’m not really fond of those metal bumps – they feel weird on my paws! But the only other option was the wet mud on either side, and no matter how much she tries to spray me with a hose, I still don’t like getting my pretty little paws wet. See, they just kept coming, it was awful!
Where is it?!
I could hear all kinds of rustling in the bushes, and I could smell the birds (there was a bird in my house when I was littler, so I know what they smell like), but everything was hiding and was hard to see. Not that I didn’t stop and try to find these things – and not like mom gave me enough time to find them. I mean, what if it was one of those big, loud, mean birds with the blue bodies and silly little crest? It might have tried to attack her, and I wouldn’t have had enough time to flush it out and send it running.
There were also these big giant trees – but they were the wrong direction! They were still pretty tall, but they were across our path. My mom kept encouraging me, and saying “go on”, but they are kind of big and in the way. I found the secret at one of them
but that didn’t work on all of them! I mean, not only did they have good things to smell, and there wasn’t any time, but they’re as tall as my shoulders. Who knows what’s on them! Sometimes, I had to just jump. I like jumping and all, but jumping is for getting to people’s faces and hands… Not this weird stuff.
Jumping is fun, but where are the treats?
Anyway, we finally climbed up some stuff – ooo, lots of crinkly leaves under foot! Those are so fun! Mom made me sit on this little plateau. I wanted to go explore all the bits that went down – they smelled a lot – but she made me turn around. There were so many little side paths here, and she never let me go the way I wanted to. But she gave me directions – if a bit late most of the time – so I knew which way to go. I mean, I could have let her go in front, but then I couldn’t scout out the sniffs!
I caught it!
Mom moved a little faster from this point, and stopped less to point that silly grey box at me. And we played catch, too. I love catch. It’s fun with balls, and it’s fun with floppy toys. But it’s most fun with food, and that’s what she had! Of course, she kept hitting me in the nose, or the head, or the teeth, but we finally got one! She looked around at all the bright plants here and there, totally ignoring me waiting for her, but she says you can see those “pictures” at this place: DeLeo Wall Flickr Set.
She kept looking at her wrist, and grumbling about "stinging nettles".
Oh, yeah, and we met two other doggies on the trip too. Neither of them had to have a leash on, but I had too! Pout! The first one was this big yellow lab (I’ve played with those before) who was all squirmy and fun, but she was just begging mom for the treats in her hand. I don’t mind sharing though, and at least she had to work to get the treats too. They’re good treats, after all! The other one (I haven’t seen one of these fuzzy, fox-looking ones before) seemed friendly at first, but when I asked her to play, she barked and nipped at me. I tried to run away, but mom was still holding on to me, and when the other dog got between us, mom tried to avoid falling on the other dog (I would have just fallen on her), she landed in the bushes. She kept looking at her arms and legs, and was very slow getting up and kept looking at her wrist the whole rest of the trip. Oh well, at least I didn’t have to defend her, ’cause that dog was kinda snippy!
Time to go home and get lunch!
Three balls! I can retrieve all three at once; try it!
We finally ended up back at the car – we always do – and I got more water and more treats! Then a ride home, and I like rides too. And, wouldn’t you know it, dad was waiting for me at home! I had to search around in the room in which I sleep, the room in which they pee, the room that has all the yummy smells, but finally found him in front of that bright screen and clicky thing his hands make noise on. All in all, a good fun day out, and when I get to play fetch with my toys at the end, it’s even better.
