One more backping trip?

My dog, Kuzca, is getting old (in December she'll be 13). That's pretty old for a dog her size and I feel fortunate that she's still happy and healthy. (I owe a lot of that to Christine, who got us in the habit of going on two walks a day.) With the summer winding down, and my own mobility about to be surgically hampered soon, I started to worry that I may be running out of opportunities to take Kuzca camping (one of her favorite things). Will she still be able to hike a few miles next year? I hope so, but I don't know. I try not to think about it too much, but it's reality.

Last weekend Kuzca and I went on a solo overnight backpacking trip into the Indian Peaks Wilderness. With Christine sidelined due to a to-be-determined injury she couldn't backpack in with us, but would day-hike up the next day with Banksy. The weather forecast wasn't ideal (lots of rain and wind), and the rangers at the forest service office definitely questioned my sanity when I picked up a permit, but it was now or never.

The hike up to Diamond Lake is only about 3 miles so it seemed like a good choice. Normally it'd be crowded, but I avoided that by going up on Friday morning. Our hike started in a light rain, but within 5 minutes the ran stopped and the sun came out for a beautiful hike. Lot's of wild flowers.

We ran into a few people at the lake, but before long the rain came back and everybody left. I'm not a big fan of camping in the rain, but it did give us the rare opportunity of having this high mountain, close to Boulder lake all to ourselves for the whole night. I can deal with a little rain for that.

The next morning the rain had stopped and the wind blew in some low clouds, but it was shaping up to be a pretty nice day. Kuzca and I mulled around camp for a while before eventually packing up and hanging out by the lake. We were sitting in a spot that allowed me to see the incoming trail so I could see when Christine and Banksy showed up. Banksy was hilarious. Even from all the way across the lake I could recognize his craziness when he got to the lake. He was so excited and was running around and around in circles with another dog.

As they got closer to where I was sitting, Kuzca started to pay attention and I could tell she was a little curious about the little person and the big black dog in the distance. She soon realized who it was and got super excited. Mayhem ensued when they got closer and Banksy realized we were there. Total crazy dog running around chasing sticks in the water and just generally running around at full speed.

Christine had managed to get there for the best weather of the day. Lot's of sunshine while we sat by the lake and at lunch. It didn't last long, though, and as we were walking down the trail to the car it started to rain quite a bit. We got nice and wet, but at least it kept things cool and we had a leisurely hike back to the car. Success on my first (and probably only) backpacking trip this year.

Flickr photo set here.

Waiting out a rain storm in the tent

Nap after a day of hiking

Crazy wet dog