Mom is finally letting me tell you some good stories! She’s been sad cause she says things are rotten in Denmark so I might as well tell you about rolling in stuff.

Mom likes to go hiking because it usually makes her happy and she says we need the exercise. She thinks hiking makes me tired! Please! My favorite thing about hiking is sniffing out who else has been on the trail. The most important place to do that is at the trail-head. Everybody has full bladders at the trail-head so there is a lot of pee to sniff. Mom always tries to rush me through this part. We’ve talked about it and I can slow her down for a while. Eventually she gets that I’m stalling and we have to get going.

During the winter in Payson I get to be off leash in the forest. It is so awesome. There’s places in Colorado I get to be off leash too. Boy are the forests different. I don’t know which I like best.

This picture is from a particularly great hike as I’m sure you can tell from the elk poop smeared on the head and neck. Mom threatened to give me a bath but I went swimming in the lake and that took care of that. This was on a Colorado hike.

Just to be clear, I’ve never seen an elk except for the awesome dead one. It is so awesome I even showed Annie. She loved it too. The last time we were on the Dead Elk Trail I stole one of its knee caps. It was ooey, gooey yummy. And the smell? Maybe one of the best smells ever. The first time I found the dead elk I rolled around on its head. Mom again threatened me with a bath. But then she said she wasn’t sure she was even going to let me in the car. I took a bunch of dust baths and rolled in a mud hole just for her, wink, wink, and I smelled great by the time we got back to the car.

This is in the Tonto National Forest.

This is Routt National Forest in Colorado. See what I mean!

Mom likes to bring snacks on our hikes and she is on and on about staying hydrated. This is one of our favorite places to take a break. There’s these great rocks we like to climb on. Mom usually brings me biscuits. She gets protein bars which look a lot like candy bars to me.

I’ve been hiking with Mom since I was about 6 months old. She likes to go where there aren’t too many people. I think that only makes sense. You can be around people at the dog park or the grocery store. Mom and me like being out by ourselves – no one interrupts us when we are talking or looks at Mom like she’s coo-coo for coco pops. Annie is doing great on our hikes. I was worried she would spoil our fun but hikes are even more fun now.

I’ve got lots more hiking stories but some of them involve me knocking Mom down. I don’t like talking about that. So, anyway, hope your water dish is full and the treat box is close by.