Last weekend, we took two of our four canines (Leia and Cami) up to Schweitzer Mountain for a huckleberry hike. Here in Idaho, the beginning of August is huckleberry season. We were a little slow getting to our favorite huckleberry patch, so it was a bit picked over. But we found some fine huckleberries and the dogs were really good. Schweitzer is actually a dog-friendly place; they even provide baggies for you to take on your hike with you in case your hound needs to "go."
Baggies are an especially good thing for Cami who doesn’t deal with the stress of new places very well. Her response to the car trip up the long, winding road was to deposit a big pile in the parking lot. So we got to try out the doggie baggies before we even started hiking. I can report that they work great. Pack it in; pack it out.
So after fun with the doggie bags, we headed up the trail. Schweizer has posted rules that say all dogs should be on a leash. I’m a big fan of that rule, personally. In fact, I came really close to pointing it out to the owners of an unleashed Lab we encountered along the trail… "yo, didn’t you see the signs?" But I controlled myself. The Lab behaved itself, and we moved on.
After we got to our spot, we ventured in among the bushes. Since picking requires two hands, we attached the hound flexi-leads to our waist packs. It was kind of soggy that day, so we were essentially attached to very soggy canines snorfling through the huckleberries. All was well until the folks at Schweitzer turned on the ski lift. They run the lift in the summer so less studly hikers and bikers can ride to the top and return under their own power going down-hill the whole way back.
Cami was not convinced that turning on the ski lift was such a fine idea, so she spent a lot of qualty time keeping an eye on it. Leia actually didn’t notice that it came on. What passes for entertainment is all in your perception, I guess.