Leashes for Labs - On the Trail

Are you one of those people who hate rules? Well, if it was a rule not to drink poison, would you do it?

Of course not and regulations about dogs off leash while hiking are kind of like that. They are there to protect your dog, not hamper his “wilderness experience” or yours.

Here are 4 questions I would like to ask you about your dog:

1. Do you care about your dog?
2. Do you want your dog to be healthy and live a long, happy life?
3. Do you take care of your dog, feed it, give it water, take it to the vet, etc.?
4. The dog can’t take care of itself, you have to take care of it, right?

Leashing your dog while you hike is part of taking care of your dog.

Here are just some of the things that can harm your dog by having them roam free off leash:

• Your dog can contract diseases like rabies, tapeworms, and salmonella by coming into contact or eating dead animals in the wild.

• Your dog can contract Guardia by drinking from the streams. Yes dogs and humans can get sick from drinking water that other animals have used as their toilets.

• Your dog can become dinner for a mountain lion...other large hoofed animals may just try and stomp them to death...and you may not even know your dog was bitten by a rattlesnake until it is too late.

• Your dog is much more likely to get ticks and bee stings off trail off leash.

• Hidden off trail hazards including rusty barbed wire and broken glass can injure your dog and lead to nasty infections.

• Confrontations with other dogs also off leash can lead to injury or worse.

The chances of your dog being hit in the parking lot or crossing the street, or coming in contact with mountain bikers or horseback riders on the trail, well all of these possible tragedies can be avoided if you take the simple precaution of leashing your dog when you go for a hike. And if you go for a hike to relax and enjoy the outdoors, why not increase your chances of doing so by leashing your dog when you take him or her with you?

Happy Trails begins with a leash for your dog and ends with Happy Tails of safe hiking adventures you took with your dog for years to come.

VE Day

The Vernal Equinox is upon us once again. Hello friend. It has been too long.

As I get older, the time period from September till March feels longer and longer. I don't like it. I prefer the time from March till September, my season of light.

As a kid, I grew up on a road that ran east west. On March 21st, the sun set right down the road. Around this time, the geese flew in giant v-shaped formations northward to their breeding grounds in Canada and the Spring Peeper tree frogs sang rhythmically serenading the season of Spring.

As a grown up, spring break for our daughter began our annual migration to Florida and a cruise around the Caribbean. The escape southward thrust us past Spring headlong into Summer. Spring in Colorado soon followed with the song of the meadow lark booming in the mornings.

The days lengthen. The grass grows. The birds sing. We yearn to be outside more. I wonder if we appreciate this season of light for what it is or because of what we had to endure to see it through for another year?

Backpacking 101 - Part 1

High school, senior year, a friend and I are in the school library talking about another friend that was going to go on some adventure to Kansas. We decided then and there to do something just as bold. We decided that we would go backpacking in the Smoky Mountains.

A couple of important facts to note. Neither one of us had ever been to the Smokies. We had never backpacked before either. The sum of my hiking experience, away from my forest preserve across the street in Northern Illinois, was reading adventure stories in Outdoor Life and Field and Stream magazines.

But it sounded cool. We would be walking across the entire park on a level, mountain top trail, the Appalachian Trail. And I had all the gear, like clod hopper hiking boots and wool socks, to go along with a pack that I bought at a Sears store.

My friend was a soccer player, a fanatical weight lifter, and a health food junkie. I was comparatively frail and ate food like pizza burgers. But we made the commitment to go and he gave up going to the senior prom so that he could afford to buy new tires for the Plymouth Valiant we were to drive there in. On the other hand, I mink oiled my clod hopper boots as my big preparation for the trip.

So in June of 1978, we set off and drove 15 hours straight from the suburbs of Chicago all the way to Great Smoky Mountain National Park in Tennessee. We were in awe of the mountains as we approached the park and since we had no place to stay, we slept in the car at the ranger station. The next morning, we informed a ranger of our intentions to cross the park in 7 days and off we went to park the car at a nearby trail head.

What happened next was what happens when reality meets inexperience.

Did you know that it is very humid and muggy in Tennessee in June? Did you also know that hiking boots that are a couple of sizes too big when worn with wool socks will enable you to grow the biggest blisters on your heals that you have ever seen? Did you know that hiking trails in the Smoky's go up and down and are never level? Did you know that when one of your backpack straps keeps breaking, you have to stop and try and put it back together again while nats and other flying insects attack you? Sounds fun, doesn't it?

Long story short, I was 17 years old and under the stress of the real world, wanted to go back home asap. I told my friend that he could keep going, that I would just hitchhike my way back home. Like I said, I was 17.

He cut short his trip as well and we drove all the way back home like we were escaping from East Germany. It was a devastating blow to my hunger for adventure and my yearning to explore and I would not try something like that again for a long, long time. But I did try again.

For my 30th birthday celebration, I chose to go backpacking in Grand Teton National Park. This time, I was prepared. Prepared for everything right up to the point when we hoisted our full packs onto our backs and nearly fell over from the weight. A friend of mine and I looked at each other and said, "We are gonna die."

To be continued.