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4 May ~2009
It had been late February since I was able to backpack with the dogs, and I had been yearning to go again for weeks. The weather turned bad on the day I planned to to head up, but I wasn't going to let that keep me home.My pack was heavier than normal. I could barely lift it up into the bed of my truck. The extra weight was from my winter gear I figured I could need. I also was carrying water, since the ridgetop destination I had in mind didn't have water close by.
I had to wear rain gear for the first day. My sleeping bag stayed dry though, and I was warm and cozy overnight in the tent. Me and the dogs had the whole mountain to ourselves - most stay home when the weather is bad. Actually I have never seen another person in the part of the wilderness I go - which is off trail up a series of ridges.
It cleared now and again on the second day, depending on if we were in a cloud or not. The clouds lifted on the third day, and the dawn color was breathtaking!
Mollie continued her education following Ben and Maggie to the top of rock formations, although at times she shows more caution than either of them, not having to be inches away from cliff edges, just to see what's down there.
She has a wild heart like those two, but is also a little lady. I had along some soft wheat tortillas which I shared with the dogs. Ben and Maggie love them, and snarf them down. Mollie took hers and ran off with it. I got up to see what she was doing, and I spied her lying beneath a pine with the tortilla in her front paws. She tore little sections off it and chewed each one daintily. I offered her another one, and she declined. One was enough.
Ben has gray hairs around his eyes, and is starting to show his nine years. His spirit has not changed, and he still managed to make it up to the highest point of every rock we explored.
I loved the time alone with my three smart dogs, and the silence, and the exploring places we had'nt been before. It was perfect.
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