Hike 3: I Got Too High

So it was Sunday, the day before mom and dad were going to leave us for the day to go see Biltmore, so they decided they needed to tire me out. So we left Duncan to snooze at the cabin and took a looooong hike in the Moses Cone (the place with the big white house) trail system to Flat Top Mountain.

I saw my first cow. Not as impressive as those Giant Dogs. But don't let the peaceful scene fool you...it was WINDY!!! And this trail walked through fields with no tree protecktion, and at one time mom's hat almost flew off! Brrrr!

As you can see, we are going waaayy up there!Actually, a little past that.

We also stopped to tell Mr. and Mrs. Cone "thank you" for allowing us to use their lands. What a beautiful spot to spend forever! I also maked sure there was no zombie activity so that we wouldnt' be suprised by a zombie attack...you never know, Howl-o-ween is close!

We got a little wind break in the woods...mom and I on a rock. I don't know why she needed to have fuzzy paws like me, I didn't think it was that cold!

From a viewpoint you can see the pretty colors and Blowing Rock, the small town we stayed outside of...

About halfway up we found another cool viewpoint. Our cabin was back behind Blowing Rock, I think I'm pretty close!

And then finally we found the top! And what the crap is this thing?!?!?!

Mom and dad said it was a firetower...you can see forever up there or something.

Mom: "See those peoples up there, you can do it!"

And I was like: "Heck yeah!"

Dad: "Who's going to own that fire tower!"

Me: "I am!"

Mom: "Who's a big brave girl!?!"

Me: "I am! Let's do this! Let's show this tower who's boss!!! GAMEFACE!"

So we started up...Oh yeah, take that firetower!

Who's your daddy?!?! I ain't scared of nothing! Look how high....ohhh....

Holy crap! Look how high I is!! Noticing how high I was about the third level and that this isn't natural for doggies, I pulled out the lay flat and don't move defense...much like a turtle.

After some gentle prodding and some Zukes PowerBones treats I made it down. What the crap was that?!?! What were you thinking, what kind of parents send their little princess up that DEATH TRAP?!!? Call the ASPCA, HSUS, Matlock, anyone!

Oh well, fearing I'd have a complete come-apart if either of them went up, mom and dad settled for beautiful views while I chomped my PowerBones.

 Looking around we saw that Grandfather Mountain still had snows on it from Saturday's little storm!

And the mountains looked like the went on FOREVER!

In the end, we settled for a nice family photo ON THE GROUND!! It was a great hike, other than mom and dad trying to kill me on the metal death-trap. And their plan worked, between this and my Deer Encounter yesterday, I was konked OUT!

Vacay Day 3: The Chase

During our trip, when we weren't out seeing BEAUTYFUL sights like the above, we hung out at the cabin.

Most of the time, I was dog tired so I'd pass out...err...recharge my super puppy energy supply.

But then this place also had a firepit!! At first I was confused as to why mom and dad would take perfectly good sticks and throw them in to be burned! I tried to fight them at first (I had a nice little secret stockpile of sticks I'd saved from them) but then gave in and decided to help them. Mainly because when they had fire, they brought out the hot dogs and I'm a sucker of nomming hotdogs, and dad dropped a lot of hotdogs.

Then one night I heard something...it was in the woods behind the cabin. So I went to investigate to proteckt my peoples. The following is an artist renditioning of what occured cause it was getting dark and it happened so fast mom didn't have the camera. So below is what happened...except it was getting dark....and I look cuter in person...

So anyway, mom came to see what I was looking at, she couldn't see me (at this time I didn't have on my no huntin vest nor my inky-blinky light). Dad came up and they heard a twig snap, then BAM!

A deer RAN past mom and dad! Bookin' it! Like runnin' like he stole it type speed. Mom was like "OMG a deer!" Dad said "Where's An...."

Then all they saw was a black blur of ninja-like quickness right behind that running fast deer!

If you slowed it down you would have seen me, running at the speed of squirrel with my eyes lazer locked on that deer's booty!

And then I was gone! Mom and dad called me and in less than five minutes I came back. Deers are fast yo! I'm pretty sure if we hadn't gone on that looooong hike earlier (I'll post that tomorrow) I'd have caught that deer. I don't know what I'd have done with it. Maybe licked it and walked off? Oh well!

So when I got back mom put me in the house, which was fine. Cause I wanted to pass out..err...recharge. From then on out, I always had my inky-blinky light on at night, but I didn't chase any more deers. It was fun though! Last year turkeys, this year deers....wonder what's next?!?!

Hiking Day 2: Not So Creepy Trail and Camo-Flage

So hiking day two was an interesting day! It was mom's birthday!!! So I woke her up with slobbery kisses and said let's go! But man, it was cooooolllld outside that day. It was kinda raining at the cabin, but mom said "let's go to the Cascades/Mountain to See Trail" for a quick outing before our Auburn Tigers played!

While we were driving, you know what? That rain stuff turned to SNOW!!! Mom and dad were giddy over it. I was like "Ahem, let's go!! Trails people!" Gah!

So we got to the trail and it was windy! But I got some refreshments before starting off.

Duncan isn't a big fan of getting his feet wet....loser!

This is the same trail LAST year....it was all foggy and SPOOKY and weird...this year it was.... 

Still a little creepy, but not so bad. All the dead piney trees were still there, but without the fog it wasn't near as spooky. 

What? You want me to go in there by myself? Umm..okay...it's not that scary...... 

Whew, not too scary! And since this trail is BARELY used I got to go off leash. Ahh...freedom. But a few times those dead piney trees made noise in the wind like "CREEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKK" and "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" so I'd run back to mom...just to make sure she was okay....you know...she was scared not me the big bad German Shepherd....

I'm glad we made the hike...the views were beautyful!

When we got back, mom and dad had time to kill before the game, so we walked around the property, I thought I'd play hide-go-seek from them...

But somehow they kept finding me....

 Ah-ha! My no huntin' me vest!!! No wonder I can't hide (I'm sure it had nothing to do with my giant ears!).

Did you hear that!?! I heard gunshot! Good thing I'm wearing my vest so no one thinks I'm a wild critter for nomming or putting on a wall.  

 Oh, and it's waterproof!

That's it for Day two. Auburn won, cause it was mom's b'day and all! No tomorrow...tomorrow is interesting. I'm working on my artist renditioning of one of the events that happend, cause it happened so fast mom didn't have a camera!!!

Hiking Day One part II: Big House and Big Dogs

After we left Price Lake and the beavers and whatnot, we hit up Moses Cone Park. We'd passed it a lot last year but never stopped. Man, am I glad we did! We never expected to see this beautiful giant house in the middle of the Blue Ridge!

And check out these views! Can you imagine waking up to that EVERYDAY!?!?! Apparently the Cones owned  A LOT of land. Mr. Cone died and the Parkway people wanted to put the BRP through their land. Mrs. Cone said "Heck to the no!" but then a few years later she died and the family donated it all to the BRP Foundation! Way to go Mrs. Cone's kids!

I told dad we should move here!!

Dad said no, unless we win the lottery. So I went PFFFT! on that!

Not only was it beautyful, but we also got a picture of us both looking in the general direction of the camera. I don't think that's ever happened before! So off we went on the miles and miles of "care-ridge"roads, starting on the DUNCAN road!  I wondered why these roads were so nice and big. And there were lots of piles of poo on them....I thought maybe cause it was named after Duncan?

Oh well, we just took in the beautiful scenery. Flowers were in bloom in the cool fall air....and then it happened...

I heard a loud SNORT and behind us were the most giantist dogs I've ever seen!! I was like WTF?!?!

The next time they came upon us, I was ready with my super-sonik hearing.

We walked behind them, as not to spook the "horses" aka GIANT DOGS. I wanted to sniff them and Duncan wasn't scared, he said he used to chase horses when he was a whipper snapper like me! I guess this is why people call me a pack mule when I wear my backpack, cause I'm like a minature-giant-horse carrying stuff. We even have similar ears!

That's it for day one of hiking. Tomorrow, I'll show off my camo-flage!

Hike One: Price Lake Where the Wild Things Are

We're back! I have to say, this year's trip to North Carrylina was pretty awesome!!! I have lots to blog about, so we'll start on day one (well, actually two, but hike one). Mom and dad weren't sure how "hiking ready" the old man was this year, so we decided to do an easy favorite at Price Lake. A 2.8 mile loop around a lake and then go from there. The trees were in pretty good color as we started our day.

Ah, the trail! How I've missed you! Backpack, check. Water bowl. Check. Noms, check. Poo bags for my pooing big brother, check. Let's rock.

As soon as I could get to water, I made a run for it! Mom and dad said "come on, there's more water!"

So I went PFFFTT! What's the point of hiking at a lake if you can't get in the lake!?!? GEEZ!!!

 Then we found a really pretty tree. Fall was creeping in!

Dad said "Let me get my pretty girls by the pretty tree!" That dad, such a suck-up. Right, but a suck up.Then we noticed something on our tree!

Seems some beavers have made their way to the lake! They've been nomming on the tree! We saw lots of beaver tree noms. Some trees were even on the ground! This makes my stick facination look not so bad.

Dad and Dunc looking cool. But really, we were at a standstill cause the trail was flooded! You know why?!?

 Those beavers had built a dam where the trail crosses! We got our feets wet, which was fine with me, but Duncan didn't like it and dad got beaver mud in his shoe! EWWWW!

 But once we reached the other side, we saw our beautiful tree! So that made it all okay.

I got in one last swim....man that water felt good. It tasted good too!

Then we saw that the beavers had built them a house out in the lake! I don't know much, but I do watch a little HGTV and that place looks like a fixer! I mean, it needs some work to make it Anna-worthy.

Then we found ANOTHER critter! On the way out we found this deer standing by the road. She hung out for a while. She just stared at us. This is a lot calmer than my NEXT deer encounter that I'll share with you later (yes, I'm a tease!)

We got in the car and got ready to go on to our next hike. Dunc did pretty good, although I'm totally embarrassed by his tongue in this photo. I mean, how un-civilized! He's making our Bugz Bunny Blanket look BAD!

Tomorrow I'll tell you about me meeting some REALLY BIG DOGS! OMG!