A Nice Day for a Hike

It was a nice day, and Mommy had nothing planned so we decided to take a good long hike. We went to the trail head at the north end of the river trail that I like so much.

Mile 0

We weren't the only ones who thought it was a good trail day. There were a lot of other people hiking, jogging, biking and especially horseback riding.

That brown horse was HUGE! 

Mommy said he looked like he should be carrying a knight in armor.

 Mommy was happy because she got to see a lot of birds.

Sandpipers were all over the place

 Red-winged blackbirds too

And there were snowy egrets and peregrine falcons everywhere as well, but they were either flying or too far away to get good pictures of.

 We even saw someone kayaking on the river.

I walked about a mile and then I asked to get in the stroller. Then I rode for about a mile and asked to get out again.

 When we got to the preserve with the lake I stopped to cool my feet and then I asked to get back in the stroller.

We hiked down to a part of the trail we haven't been to in years because it is quite a distance between trail heads. It hadn't changed a whole lot.

 Some trees are FINALLY starting to green up!

Mommy was happy to see they had added an outhouse in this long stretch between trail heads. My stroller even fit in it.  After the potty break we hiked some more and then we stopped for lunch and turned around.  I rode for a bit then decided I wanted to walk again. We were slowly walking up the trail when suddenly a group of about 25 horsemen wearing cowboy hats and leather jackets came galloping past us from behind. This is totally against the trail rules (you aren't supposed to go faster than a trot) and very dangerous on such a busy day.  I'm sure they thought they looked very macho, but Mommy and I thought they just looked like a bunch of fools.  

I walked for about a half mile and then decided I wanted to ride until we got back to the preserve with the lake. Then I wanted to walk again.  You may remember when we hiked this preserve in the winter there were Christmas trees on the lake.  They were supposed to fall in the deep part when the ice melted and make places for the fish to hide, but the spring was so weird they must have gotten rides to shore on the ice. I guess they'll have to take them out by boat later this spring.

Old Christmas trees not doing their job

After about a quarter mile I asked to get back in the stroller and rode the rest of the way to the car.  It was a fun hike and I fell asleep almost as soon as I got in the back seat.  Then when we were driving home Mommy said, "Should we stop for a Pup Cup on our way home?" Well that woke me up!

We got to the Tastee-Freez and waited in line, and waited, and waited, and waited. There was a woman ahead of us who was arguing with the kid at the cash register. She wanted to use a Groupon and he didn't know what to do. I got mad about the wait and started barking at the woman to hurry up. After all, she arrived in a big SUV, and was waving her iPhone around. I think she could afford two Tastee-Freez cones without a Groupon. She finally got the message and gave up and paid the whole $4. The next people in line were very fast so I didn't have to bark at them.

 Waiting for my Pup Cup to come out of the window

There it is! 

Don't worry. Mommy put it down on the ground so I could eat it, but she was so busy eating her ice cream cone she didn't take a picture.

Total miles hiked by me: 2.25  Total miles riding in the stroller: 5.75  Total miles hiked: 8