Gray but not as cold and little wind. We have a dusting of snow- the first that hasn't immediately melted. We planned to hike the Sheepscot trails to the Hogback Overlook and then explore beyond that- the trail becomes a bit confusing, I think because of some logging activity.
We started from the Whitten Hill parking area and as soon as we parked we heard a nearby dog barking. This got Kelley excited and as soon as we crossed the road a dog appeared. It was somewhat tentative at first but seemed to want to join us.
and did. I tried to get it to go home but it ignored me and off we went
they are waiting for me to take this picture
Whitten Hill Trail
We took the trails outlined above to the Hogback Connector and found this sign
OK- we would go a bit further and pick up the Hemlock Hollow Trail to take us up to the Northern Headwaters and make a loop of that instead of the planned hike.
Our dog friend was sometimes with us but was very active and did a lot of running all over the place. She reminded me of Faith's dog Roxie- disappearing into the woods only to come charging back from who knew which direction. She would do a play growl-attack , trying to get Kelley to play but Kelley, even though she understood this was not aggression, was mostly content to amble along with me but would then rush ahead to catch up with the other dog.
Also a lot of sniffing to be done
Sometimes they waited while I took pictures
Goods news for Kelley was water. There were several small streams that were flowing with open areas.
The stream she was in
Some leaves
Together on the Hemlock hollow trail
Looking down from the trail as we climbed to Whitten Hill
There is a lot of old stone wall along the Northern Headwaters Trail
The hike had not taken as long as expected so we continued on the Norther Headwaters to a relatively new trail I had seen but not taken. It is called the Whitten Fields Trail and took us across fields and through woods down to the road.
There was a man working in his nearby yard and I verified we were on Halldale Rd. He did not know the dogs name but said it lived near where we had started and her owner let her run free. The dog had disappeared into his yard exploring and maybe headed home . We started walking the road back to our car and the dog was once again with us.
We saw a yurt and a memorial on a tree
As we got to the parking area our new friend disappeared again- presumably home. She had been with us for all of a 3 hour hike. She helped make this an interesting hike and the snow added to the beauty. The dogs were friendly enough though Kelley chose not to be involved in any roughhousing .
Love the orange scarves on both the dogs! I suppose it's to warn the hunters? The snowfall looks pretty - hope our mountains get some soon.
ReplyDeleteHi Linda- yes the orange is because it's deer season- just a few more days. We are late getting snow too- and though not much it was pretty.
DeleteAt least the dogs owner is not letting it run free without a red marking--seems like the owner knows the dog will go with someone else so why try to stop it. The cold has arrived here with strong winds-
ReplyDeleteIt will be just as easy to shift to my Safari account as to open another one--finally figured out how to bookmark on it so should be ok in the future. Brother Tom
Hi Tom- It's pretty much country there with almost no traffic - I can see how the dog would like the freedom. Only a few more days of deer season. The neighbor we talked to said the dog's owner did some work on the trails there and I'm guessing the dog is pretty familiar with them.
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