I decided to go to the Reserve early and avoid the 'crowd'. The Wintergreen trail is short and easy with some nice views of the Kickapoo River. Charlie has made this trip with me several times and I'm pretty confident now that he has no desire to take a leap off from the bluff into the river below.
He is wearing his harness and does have a cord attached that I step on in case he gets some stupid ideas.
Our trip was mainly uneventful and we ran into two other folks with dogs. One person was obeying the leash requirement that KVR management has put into place because of the popularity of the trails right now during the Pandemic. There has been some problems with people and their dogs not being leashed.
During a normal year a person can walk with their dog unleashed except when the ground nesting birds are active. The Reserve is popular for those who hunt pheasants and use their dogs for retrieving. Hunting is allowed during turkey, pheasant, and deer seasons. Everyone local knows this and it is on their website.
Ok. So I digress again.
Charlie generally never gets more than 6 ft from me as I will just step on his cord. And when I hear other people on the trail, I just pick up the end of the cord and we are leashed. I've had to pick Charlie up on more than one occasion as we've run into some rather aggressive dogs.
I'd brought the Kurgo dog pack and snacks. Charlie and I hiked out to the end of the last bluff and had a picnic and practice session with the backpack.
Here is a view of the last leg of the trail through the pines. The smell is wonderful in any season. I had forgotten to put a battery in my little red camera so I only had my infrared pocket camera to take photos. It ended up working fairly well I think. I had to really look at the light, dark, green, and sunlight to compose photos.
On our way back we ran into a small group of people with a little old dog that had no collar and no leash. The dog was very obedient and the owner asked if Charlie and her dog could say hello. I said fine and the two dogs looked each other over, then Charlie simply walked away as did the other dog.
In the shot below you can see Charlie's long line that he drags behind him. When he wears his harness and line ~ and we are walking the reserve trails, he has always stayed close. He must really know the difference, right?
Tall Tale from the Trail....
Not a great shot, but doesn't it look like this tree is pouting??
Do you see the face? I actually had to stop and look at it twice. I plan on going back with a camera that can shoot at a higher speed than the little Canon Infrared can and get a clearer shot. I now have two grumpy faced trees that I enjoy photographing!
Be well.
