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Tag Archives: camping with dogs

Mud Season Break

The girls and I took a little break from Mud Season last week. We drove about 100 miles south of here for a change of scenery and also a chance to walk on dry ground – no snow or mud, well, maybe a little mud. We walked through the sagebrush and coulees, the girls jumped in various lakes and I saw some tiny wildflowers and birds too. Ken joined us for an afternoon to celebrate my birthday. We ended the trip with a good six mile hike with a friend and her dog. I am pleased that Sky was able to do the whole hike despite her arthritis and spondylosis. She is moving around thanks to modern meds.

Spring Camping

The girls and I and our friends, Beth and Fern, went to our favorite camping place in the Okanogan Highlands last week and had a fun time despite lots of rain. One day, it rained for five straight hours, not just a light rain, but hard rain where you don’t even want to consider going outside. The trailer stayed dry inside, well, maybe it was damp from wet dogs and people and condensation but we were more or less dry. All that rain is good for wildflowers and green growing things. We did manage to do quite a bit of walking and birding and botanizing. And we read books. One day, we sat under a tree with a big canopy and stayed dry while it rained and hailed and then the birds came to us.

Fall Camping

The girls and I had one more camping trip in early October. Due to unseasonably warm weather, fall colors were few and far between. The light was amazing though. Every morning, I took my coffee to the beach and watched the sunlight spread across the mountain and the tall trees. Sky and Luna both posed for photos. Luna managed to go for walks the first four days but by day five, she was tuckered out and did not really want to do much. I think she was relieved when we left the next day. However, she still wants to go camping. She loves the smells and the lake and just being out and about. The best thing about that trip was that we mostly had the campground to ourselves. Hardly anyone else was camping. The worst thing about it was that somewhere a fence or gate had failed and six cows freely roamed about. They would parade through at least once a day. Sky got real good at chasing cows and Luna backed her up with barking.

Camping with Dogs in the Rain

Dogs don’t care about the weather, too much.

Ground Squirrels

The ground squirrels were particularly active and cute at the campground. Sky was fascinated by them. She’d watch and then they’d slip into their burrows and then she’d walk over and sniff and look around as if to say, ‘where’d they go?’ And the little mammals seemed to know that Sky would not pursue them. They tolerated her watching them. They let each other know when we were approaching with little warning whistles so the others would be alert.

There are several species of ground squirrels in Washington and I don’t them well enough to make an ID. Maybe someone else does?