With all of our big mountain adventures occupying the summer months, I completely forgot the fact that we live two miles from the base of the Rocky Mountain foothills. Sure enough, digging around the county website I found enough trails to possibly fill our winter weekends with hikes. Once the weather settles in for winter (today warmed to 60F), we'll be ready for some 8 hour strolls. So today we took a quick three mile jog to scope out an 18 mile trip. It's called Devil's Backbone and I can see it from my sewing room. (For the big trip I would leave from my friggin' house and follow the front ridge of the mountains nine miles north to Horsetooth Reservoir.)

Not having looked at the weather, 8:30am sounded just fine to head out. The air still had bite to it and a jacket seemed like a must. Then the dogs were loaded in the van and we set off. This place was so close that the heater never reached warm before we got there. Stepping out into the sun made everything different. It was warm outside, but we were only out to gain a view of the overall terrain and objectives for later. Dogs were ready to roll, so rolled we did...






The formations that makeup Devil's Backbone...






Home is off yonder in the distance...


A Forest Service guy we ran into told us the early morning was filled with elk, coyote and deer. We only saw deer...


Doggies focused on them but didn't freak out or make a sound. Not sure I can ask much more from them...








This is a busy area with access shared amongst horses, bikes, people and dogs. Overall I would rate the pack behavior at 8.5 today. They flurried up a bit when a group of almost 30 college students came along, and Sioux jumped up at a guy who baby talked him. Other than that, the heat was the only thing we had to get past. It was a quick 90 minutes this morning.

Fin.

Love the pups sitting on the stairs! That cracks me up! Can't wait to get up to where snow is a possibility! Thanks for sharing!

Fun,
i took the doggies to the petco store opening on Sat morning and was 4th in line so i got a $10 gift card and a free doggie photo session! they did not behave that well but we got 2 good shots and should have them back sometime this week. let me know about some hikes!

Nice! We're going to take Koda on a hike very soon...I can't wait!

We went back out to this area yesterday and logged another five miles with full hiking weight. Not many pics since the trail had a bit of ice that required attentiveness.





















The straps on Coco's pack ripped apart at the adjuster loops. ¿What is with the construction on these packs? Every single one has needed strap repair. Probably just cost cutting side effects. I wish they would use the proper thread for the task. Ugh.

mybe coco just does not want to wear the pack? great pis as always

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That's the response I expect when I fire off an e-mail to Outward Hound tomorrow.

We just keep using this nice little area for warming up and building pad strength on rocks and dirt. Turns out sunrise on Easter Sunday was a perfect time to head out on the usually busy trail. We pulled into the parking lot and there were two other cars. Getting the dogs ready turned out to be quite annoying since we haven't been getting out much over the winter. Hopefully they get back to the calm quiet three hour car ride dogs I had at the end of last summer. Anyway, Lindsay decided to join us and see what the hiking thing is all about...




























Fin.

i saw these pics on FB looks like a good time! i see Coco got the new pack? god i want to go hiking! been having a ton of talks about it to ken, he is just not on board with it

Yeah, Coco demanded it pretty much. She was mad at whoever I put it on. Then after I put it on her she would run away so I couldn't take it off. It's hers for sure.

I'm still not sure how Lindsay will react to the actual "hiking" this summer. Buffalo Mountain made me think that we'll be doing some tough rock hopping this year.

im not sure how sierra will feel about that either! did you send the booties? have not gotten them yet i think im gonna try to start jogging when my calfs are not burning from my calf raises on tue! should not have done that 100lbs.

Sorry, they're on the way today.

so you were packing that $100 in there as well?