Started the hike Around 6 in the morning on a Friday. Maybe 2 other cars in the lot. As i walked across the street i noticed the sign right outside the Candy store “STORE IS CLOSED”, I thought “Bummer.”
My Jack Russel (Cookie) and i approached the trail head and quickly started climbing. Stopped a few times to take some pictures of him with the sunrise, he likes to pose. I had a jacket on but soon took it off, even though it was chilly, the climbing was get me warmed up.
Trail was well kept. Cookie isnt really used to long strenuous walks, so we took plenty of break.
We finally reached the bottom of the last push up. I let him push up ahead by himself, since holding on to his leash was throwing me off balance and making him slide down every time he tried to get ahead. Figured it was safer for both of us. We got about half way up, when other hikers were starting to come down, so we pulled of to the side and took a nice short break; Cookie took that time to take a small nap in between my legs.
We finally get to the top and enjoyed the Views. This was Cookie's first summit, so i was extremely proud of him.
On the way down, we used the same game plan, let him go ahead of me. We were both pretty tired but managed to dig deep and push the all the ascents and descents. Sun was a little Harsh, but the breeze made it bearable. After what seemed like a longer hike back to 4 corners, i let Cookie take another long break. With only 2 miles left, i really wanted to push us to make it back to the car.
Once we finally did, we said goodbye to a couple of new friends we met at the top, and drove home. Twas a good day.
Responses
OMG! I loved reading about your hike up Sitton with cookie. My viszla Zoe has done 8 miles with me many times but not 10. I am hiking Sitton this week so maybe I will take her. Best of luck to you with the rest of the peaks. Maybe I will see you on one.