Puppy, Hiking, More Puppy, More Hiking

I know, so much puppy.  But how often do I get a puppy?  Sixteen years since my last puppy so I think I get to post ALL the puppy pictures.

These are from June 5th, a week and a half ago.  She's so much bigger now.

She's all legs and ears.

Poor Ruby, she's such a good sport.

Loves her.

This is called the 'Mr. Piggles is SO Much More Fun Than My Undies Game'.  This is also one of the first shots with my new camera, a Canon point and shoot.  My old point and shoot is dying and I can't have that with a new puppy.

These photos are from yesterday, also with the new camera.  The light was not fabulous but I had some spare moments and wanted to give the new camera a shot.

Tess loves Ruby very much and gets a lot of confidence from her.

She seems so big, and today she seems even bigger.

She's made some nice progress with her confidence as well.  Took her to Home Depot and she walked right in no problem, even with the sliding automatic door.  We've worked on that at the grocery store.  She was a bit nervous of the carts and people squatting in the aisles but otherwise she walked around, no freezing.  We went super early in the a.m., not long after opening so it was quiet.  Maybe next time we'll go when it's a bit busier though if it's too busy I may have a breakdown.  I've backed off the socializing a bit, mostly for my own sanity,  I hate big noisy crowds and busy places.  It's funny that I'm going to all this effort to get her used to places I never intend on going but it's good to get her as used to everything as possible.

She had her final puppy shots at the vet and did way better than last time but still was pretty nervous.  Shaped her to get on the scale, she was around 27 lbs.  Scale kept changing numbers so could be plus or minus a pound or two.  Now the vet says keep the rear dewclaws.  They're actually formed toes, not just wimpy flappy claws, and kind of freaky looking but I'm all for less surgery.  Normally I would spread out distemper and rabies shots but I didn't want to subject her to another vet visit so we did it all at once and thankfully she had no vax reactions.

Took her to see her poodle friend today and she did great - pulling my arm off to get to the yard, flying around the yard as soon as I let her off leash, going over to my friend to say 'hi'.  Still not playing with the other dog but mostly not scared of him either.  Something had recently killed a rabbit in the yard and Ruby was more than happy to check out the scene of the crime.  Overall a fun morning for the gang.  Now to get her as comfortable with some other yards and dogs.

Jonny and I took a nice hike over the weekend on a quiet trail in the Indian Peaks Wilderness.  Such things do still exist, we saw a total of 2 groups of 2 people, one with a dog.  The trail is an old jeep road for the first couple few miles which is probably why it's so quiet, most people prefer a trail.  But it's not too rocky and we were o.k. with it if it meant no crowds.

The snow melt is in full swing so parts of the trail were running with water right next to some remaining snow banks.

This was above the running water, approaching treeline.

There were some nice views along the way.

Top of the World.  Or treeline at least.

At treeline the trail turned to pure snow and it was super steep, not a great combination for hiking boots so we turned around.  I suspect there are more spectacular views from the top of the ridge but it will have to wait for another day.

Tess is too young for such a steep long hike and despite all the snow it was a hot day so we left Ruby home.  Maybe once things thaw out and we plan for an earlier/cooler start we can take Ruby.  The dogs had a good early early morning romp at the dogpark where we practiced recalls and had the joint to ourselves so I didn't feel too badly about leaving them behind.  It's great to see Tess stretch out and run.  She does these funny flying lead changes, looks like a dressage horse.

Went to Target at 8 this morning to get the dogs a cheapo paddling pool since it's getting hot out and neither dog is thrilled about water.  I did some shaping with the clicker to try to get them in the pool.  Tess was batting the water with one paw after the first session and batting for more reps with both feet after the second session.  Then I took her to my friend's house for her doggie play date and she was batting the water in the water dish in the yard.  Such a funny girl.  By the third session today she was standing in the pool with 2 feet comfortably and had a few reps of all four feet in though she jumped out as soon as all four feet were in.  Ruby was standing with 2 feet in on the first session but I didn't get any further with the second session because Tess kept getting in the way.  Will try again later with only Ruby.

I have a short trip planned for next week, have to deal with the hassle of flying.  We'll see how that goes.  Jonny gets the pups all to himself.  We'll see how that goes.

Selfies at 11,000' and Collie Flowers

A beautiful hike from Brainard Lake to Lake Isabelle today.  A Friday.  Because if that's what it's like on a Friday I don't want to think about what the weekend is like.  But my growing discontent with the Front Range hordes is a post for another day.

Strummy and I got kind of an early start but not super early.  Hit the trail at around 9:15.  Don't try that on the weekend folks.  This hike was a spur of the moment decision so I didn't have gear packed, crate in the car, etc. and it took a little while to hit the road once I made the decision.  And it was a good decision.

The lake is awfully low (barely visible in this photo) considering all the moisture we've gotten.

Selfies at 10,910'.

I had Garmin with me so I finally know the elevation at the lake.  Ish.

Collie Flowers

Poor dog.  I sat his ass down to pose for pictures next to every patch of wildflowers I could find.  He was such a good sport.  Uncharacteristically so.  I guess he's figured out the quickest way to get hiking again is to pose quickly and get it over with.

So many wildflowers.

 One of these days I'll figure out how to photograph them to get the best effect.  But not today.  It was getting stormy and I don't like to be too high/exposed when a front is blowing in.  I made it to the car no problem.  I'm always amazed at the people starting their high country hikes at noon and going up into dark black clouds.  Lightning is so dangerous and prevalent at high altitude.  But there were asstons of them today and most summer days.

So beautiful but I didn't get an early enough start to go too high.

7 miles/3 hours of hiking and a 45 minute drive later and Strummer is throwing tennis balls at me while I try to do some reading for work.  He is relentless, just like Mountain Champs.

Lake Isabelle

Played hooky on Monday and took Strum up to the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area for a magical day of hiking up to Lake Isabelle and points beyond.

Lake Isabelle.  I never tire of that view.

The hike up to the lake is pretty easy, it's only 2 miles with not quite 400' of elevation gain.  The only hard part is that the lake is at 10,868' so the air is a bit thin but that mostly doesn't bother me.  It takes a little under an hour to get to the lake.

Strum doesn't seem to mind either.

After a snack and some moments of whimsy at the lake we continued up towards Pawnee Pass.  My goal wasn't the pass itself but rather an alpine bench at 11,800' that flattens out just below the start of the steep rocky ascent to the pass.  It's maybe another 2-2 1/4 miles and another hour or so of hiking.

After you leave the lake you climb through a beautiful area of wildflowers and a some small falls and streams.

Collie flower.

After many stream crossings the trail gets steeper, rockier and more exposed.  There are a series of steep rocky switchbacks with sharp drop-offs in places.  I'm fine as long as I don't look down and Strummer doesn't try to pull me down the side of the mountain in search of pika poop.

We ran into an angry marmot on one of the switchbacks.  He had some loud, harsh words for us, so loud he hurt my ears.  I'm not sure if he was chasing us out of his territory or voicing his opinion on USDAA's 22" weave poles.

There are lots of nice views as you huff your way up the steep switchbacks.

Almost there.

Phew, we made it.  Hiking up to 11,800' is serious business.

Some views from the bench.

The pointy cone to the left of the glacier is Navajo Peak.  Don't know the name of any others.

We stopped for some water and more moments of whimsy then headed back down.  After Lake Isabelle we had the trail to ourselves on the way up and only ran into 2-3 people on the way down.  It got more crowded from Lake Isabelle back to the car but still not too bad, especially compared to the weekend which is a mob scene at that time of day.

All in all a fantabulous day.  And to top it off I came home and called the city about a $580 bill I received for failure to file city taxes even though I don't owe city taxes and never received a form from the city.  Somehow this is a $500 fine plus a $50 penalty plus $30 interest.  I'm not sure what the difference is between a fine and a penalty or how I can owe interest on money I don't owe.  But I was having many heart attacks and aneurisms when I opened that envelope over the weekend.  In the end when I called they told me all I had to do was write on the letter that I don't owe taxes and mail it back and I don't have to pay anything.  SUCH a big sigh of relief and my heart rate returned to normal.  I asked them where to get a form to file in the future and they said the city sends them out at the end of the year and they had no explanation as to why I never received one.  Sheesh.  Anyway, that was icing on the cake of a perfect day.

Blue Lake

Quick hike up to Blue Lake today at over 11,000 ft. to escape the heat. 

Mt. Toll and Blue Lake

Was so nice to get out of the heat down in town.  Cool temps, a nice breeze, ahhh...

We left Strummer home this time.  I thought it would be too hot for him up there and the trail is very steep and rocky.  Last time we were up there we saw a moose, no such luck this time.  I guess that's what we get for leaving our good luck charm behind.

This is why I don't feel the need to travel anymore.  Why get on a plane or sit in the car for days when I can have all this for just a 50 minute drive from home?

It's even nicer earlier in the season when there's more snow on the mountains but this is the first I've gotten up there this year.  Will have to make more of an effort to get those high country hikes in.  The short season will be over before I blink.

Don't know what these flowers are but I liked them.

Gotta admire anything that's bad ass enough to survive up on the alpine tundra.

Grooving at Lake Isabelle

Yesterday I took Strum for a nice hike up to Lake Isabelle and the further up to the tundra above.

The lake is a mere puddle this time of year.

Compare to the photo I took in June of last year from roughly the same place

Amazing what a difference 3 months makes.

Grooving at the lake

I took a million photos, well 90 photos, and had such a hard time deciding which to post so I made up an album on Facebook of about 20.  You can view it here without having to join Facebook.  I'm guessing there are better options than Facebook for posting photos but they make it so darn easy that that's where I'm putting them for now.

I love this transitional time of year, last holdouts of wildflowers mingling with the grasses that have turned red, is it summer or fall?  Nature is as confused as the rest of us.

View of the glacier and the red tundra grasses

Fed up with stopping for me to take pictures.  Patience is not one of his virtues.

Happy trails

Not sure what this is about.  It looks like a sundog but I'm sure I would have noticed a sundog so I'm guessing it's more likely some weird camera malfunction.

I love fall.

I just wish we were getting some fall temperatures.  It was beautiful up at 10,000 feet yesterday but it was 91 degrees when I got back to town and it's the same just now.  Blech.  I fear we're going to go straight from summer to winter and miss out my favorite season.  Hope it's not this hot next week for DOCNA Champs.  It usually runs 10 degrees hotter over in Grand Junction than here.