Do you wannah?

Do you want to go for a hike?

The reaction.

Immediate.

YES!

It is nice to know that sometimes I can just pick up and go. The scrappers have been absent. I think they just want a few more things and hopefully I am done with trying to guess their schedules.

I'd spent the weekend with Siera and making a campfire ring out in the woods, along with a place to put a tent. I hauled dirt for my washtub flower 'pots' and seeded other small areas.

The yard needed mowing sort of. But since I had the rider back it could wait until I was ready to do it.

I checked the times for travel to Wildcat Mountain with the big detour and was surprised that the detour would add lots of miles and time. I compared it to Wyalusing and found that the time would be equal even if it was 10 more miles of travel one way.

I have not yet hiked at Wyalusing in the spring pre-skeeter season, so I jumped at my chance.

I started down the Immigration Trail which led to the backwaters of the Wisconsin River and saw the sign that said the trail by the river was temporarily closed due to the flood. However the river had receded and I saw a bird photographer further down the trail looking around.

I ended up turning at the sign that said 'Bluff Trail'. The Bluff Trail that comes off the Immigration Trail is steep and difficult with rocks that are like stairs but also about knee high. With two rambunctious dogs on leashes, it was a bit tricky.

There are no pictures of the treacherous spots. I concentrated on footing.

We made the steep climb out of the valley. Miss Garmin said it was about 900 feet of climbing over a mile. But the view from the Bluff Trail was really quite beautiful.

We could see the river below and catch glimpses of Turkey Vultures, Eagles, and Red Tail Hawks.

I found lots of cool looking rocks and bluffs. 

We were actually below a bluff on this trail.

There was a little footbridge over a rock slide that I stopped at to give the dogs a drink of water and a break for me.

They are looking up towards the bluff top where we could hear birds and someone mowing in the campground up on top of the bluff.

There are hazards to having a dog or two along. Sometimes when you find something really cool, you squat down to take a shot of a wild flower...and....

But, I persisted.

Here is a flower that I have never seen in the wild before. A shooting star!

Imagine my surprise to find that this section of the trail was literally lined with them below the cold bluff rocks. I'm not saying a few here and there, but thousands of them.

We finally got to the steps I'd heard about tales about. Steep steps made out of wood up the side of the bluff.

...and doggy entanglement....

The steps were built by the CCC eons ago and still hold up. I doubt most people could walk up this slope without the stairs in place. In the winter, this trail is closed off due to it being steep and the one side having a drop off.

At the top of these stairs was a whole in the rocks that we could fit through. The trail goes beyond the rocks but the stairs built to descend were too steep for us to negotiate safely with leashes and happy bouncy dogs.

The dogs would have been happy to attempt them and I would have, but I'd have had to let the dogs loose to do it. 

I decided ... not this day.

We opted instead for climbing to the top of the bluff and finding one of the lookouts.

I did promise myself to come back without dogs, or maybe bring just one for the ease of investigating more cool plants and an easier hike ... this experience was like herding cats on a steep trail. Eventually we will get this down to a science and the dogs will be on a split lead requiring only one hand. 

But with every adventure, Hannah learns more and so do I.

Until next time...

I thought about the double dog thing and recall having a leash when I trained hound dogs that let me have two dogs clipped to the leash.

I looked that item up and ordered one, guaranteed not to tangle.

Well, there you go!

Maybe there will  be less entanglement and more fun next time!

We finished strong with 4 tough miles under our belt [leashes].  I think the most satisfying feeling was that I wasn't tired at all. 

Mr. Morris has a new clock

Mr. Morris decided that I needed to take a walk the other day. I wanted to check the mailbox on the ridge and any excuse to get out for a bit is a good excuse. Fresh air is good for you.
However we happened to pick one of those days that the winds were roaring overhead on the ridge.

I put on my fur fox hat and grabbed my camera bag [of course!]. Even though we'd had some very light snows, the overall color of the season right now is dull, drab, and dirty looking.

Dingy ~ Gloomy Drab Dark Dirty Shabby Squalid

This is the view down the private drive of the neighbor. Dull, dingy, dank, dark, and dirty looking. However to avoid the raging winds, I walked this way as the trees protected Morris and I from the biting cold.

Morris keeps having some pretty decent days. Most of his time is spent sleeping. He has a routine that he now keeps.
Up between 4AM and 5AM. Outside immediately. He wears a pet light so I can see him in the dark.
Breakfast must be served between 5 and 5:15 or he gets frantic.

One more outside visit and the couch is his for napping.

Between 2:30 and 3PM, it is time for activity. He walks around the house and grunts until I get dressed. He bounces around playfully and shoots out the door when I open it.

I have been keeping him on a leash since his last little adventure when he went home after about a 20 minute hike into the woods.
I brought the leash but let him off when we headed down the neighbor driveway. He was more of his old self. He'd trot ahead, then stop. Smell. And when I'd whistle he'd come on the run.

Since the view up the driveway seemed SO drab I thought it appropriate to edit it with some grunge textures. I used Topaz Studio to edit my files quickly and very easily. I actually didn't walk past the tree on the right as the winds whistled fiercely across the open area beyond.

I thought to myself that this was so ugly, it was almost beautiful in a way.

I watched Morris sniff around at the coyote tracks and the 'possum tracks. He trotted back and forth. I bent down to pet him and put him on his leash.

And this is what I got!

The little turd!

However to be honest, he does love to walk on leash out to pick up the kids at least once a week between 3 and 4PM. The route is the same as is the timing.
I can now count on this being a part of his routine. As soon as 3:30 hits, he will turn and head home.

I didn't mind this at all as I could see him trot up ahead. He went to the mailbox and made a turn down the hill. He sat on the porch and awaited my return patiently.

When I arrived, he calmly walked inside and stood next to his feed bowl.
He stared at me while I got undressed. As if he was trying to mind meld with me to let me know "food" was urgent.

Precisely at 5PM, Morris will stand in the kitchen and then walk to the couch. He goes back and forth. Eventually he makes a nest and settles in. If we walk into the living room to watch Netflix or something, he sighs deeply and gets off the couch.
He is adamant about laying between the two of us after we settle in.
I think he wants us to know that the couch/love-seat really belongs to him.

Morris still rules.
The Little Old Mr. Morris has a set of rules that must be followed by the rest of the members of 'his' family.