Saturday, December 8, 2007

Washington Tykes do the Harriman Hike

Last Saturday, we tried something a bit more ambitious than the dog run or a city park, and took Max on a group hike in Harriman State Park, organized by Caroline (Smarties' person, see below), and composed of various dogs and people we meet regularly down in Fort Washington Park--the canine component consisting of Duke, Tender, Smarties, and Ben. The people did the driving.

But Tender was ready to leave without us if we didn't get a move on.


The trail loop, which led us up and down two small mountains, was listed in a book Caroline has as being of 'moderate' difficulty. What the book didn't mention was that there'd be snow and ice for most of the way. The dogs didn't mind a bit. My ankles, on the other hand....




























We saw three different Bald Eagles, including this adult bird--there were also Common Ravens in abundance, and a magnificent Pileated Woodpecker, but birds are less cooperative photographic subjects than dogs, generally speaking.


Max greets a fellow hiker on our way back down.




I know I'm letting bias affect my photo selection, but you have to admit--my boy is good looking.


"Hey, you let Tender drive!"

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome hike. Great pictures!!!!!!!

Melissa said...

Great Day even for a "Moderate" hike!! Thanks for the pictures. I find myself having a hard time figuring out which picture is of Tender and which one is of Max, they look so similar. I guess we will have to look for the lazy ear on Tender to make sure. Great blog, Ill be sending it to my family in CA.

Chris said...

I can tell them apart in the pictures, but out on the hike, I would constantly think I was looking at Max scaling a snowy slope, and it would turn out to be Tender.

Max isn't as relaxed and happy-go-lucky as Tender, at least not when he's out hiking--sometimes you can tell them apart just by facial expressions and body language.

It's definitely not Max in that photo of you holding a dog over your head. Max wouldn't look nearly so at home in that position--he can be picked up, but he tends to look befuddled and mildly concerned when it happens. Tender just accepts it as her rightful due. Anyway, you already knew that was Tender. ;)

A great adventure, and to hell with my ankles. We'll do it again sometime soon.

Anonymous said...

What a wonderous time you all must have had!! Next time, count Jack and me in....

Anonymous said...

Thanks for documenting the trip, the pictures look great, as for the difficulty it was moderate for the dogs, but for the bipeds it was definitely more difficult, but a good time was had, I look forward to our next moderate hike.

Anonymous said...

Great work.