Tag Archives: hiking with your dog

Camping and the Ponies

June 26, 2016 Odee Leave a comment

A note from Matt:

Sometimes Jackson has problems with place names; he gets a little confused due to his excitement when on a trek. We were camping at Grayson Highlands State Park in southwest Virginia.

Woof, woof, we just got back from a short camping trip to one of my human’s favorite places. He said it was called Gray Sun Hi Hound or Mr. Rogers. Funny names I know but I like to go there it is a great place. Each time we go we get to visit with those big critters Matt, my human, calls ponies. They look and smell different than dogs and they eat grass all the time. If fact they eat so much they usually do not even pay much attention to you, unless you get behind them. Now my human gets upset with me when I eat grass but he did not say a word to those ponies. He explained to me that was about the only thing they eat. Woof, he did say the eat apples and some other things, but the apples were about the only good thing I heard. They do not know what they are missing!

We camped at the park campground for two nights. During our stay I made some videos and photographs of the campground and a trail. Woof, I even got to go swimming! We got up early our first morning, well not really early for us, and met our friend Bonita (She is a human) so she and Matt could do some sunrise photographs. We hiked up a big hill, but it took us awhile. Humans are so slow; I had to keep checking on them to see if they were still coming. We finally got up that hill and as they were fussing over their cameras I saw the ponies and baby ponies long before they did. I was a bit upset Matt did not bring my camera. He promised he would do better next time.

Back at our campground Matt took a four hour nap, he said he had been working hard and decided just to rest. I did not mind that at all and slept with him. We stayed at the campground the rest of the day and I played in the fields. Some humans camping close by brought Matt a nice warm dinner and we enjoyed a fire before some thunderstorms made us get in the truck for the night.

That is a great creek! Matt said it was called Wilson Creek.

The next morning we were almost packed and ready to go so we had some breakfast and went on a short hike to a creek. I really liked that hike because I went swimming and the water was nice and cold. Thinking about it the whole time we were there it was nice, Matt wore long sleeve shirts and of course I have my coat on all the time! Woof, woof, some dog humor there. I was sad we left so soon, I really like it there, Matt said we would be back soon. I hope so, woof!

Then we drove home and it was hot again, ruff!

Be sure to check my video page to see the video of the campground and soon I will have my video of the hike posted.

Desert Dreaming

May 1, 2016 Odee 1 Comment

For those that have just joined us on Jackson’s blog you may notice my name on here a bit. When his Facebook fans donated money for a GoPro camera I bought his domain name and promised him a website. Well he got a little impatient and just took over mine so his domain just points to this site.
– Matt

Woof! I thought I was in the truck traveling with my human where the land looks totally different. It was wonderful, all the strange and different smells were back and the wind from the window was blowing my ears back. The next think I knew my human was telling me I was dreaming. I thought I was back walking and running in that place where there were not many trees. My human and I were hiking on trails all over the place. I had my boots on because of those sticky plants, I am so glad Matt got those for me. I was visiting with other dogs and humans, it was fun. There were big rivers, but this time they were gentle and I went swimming, woof! In my dream I did not have to wait in the truck when my human went on some hikes, I got to go on every hike everywhere.

That was a wonderful dream about a strange and different place we just visited. Most of the places we went to did not have any trees, though there were a few around some places. I did get to go on a lot of hikes but Matt told me I was not allowed to go on some he wanted to go on. He did make sure I got to go on plenty; I just wish I could have gone on all of them. Ruff I wonder who I can complain to about that? We lived in the truck a lot so we were outdoors more than usual though we did stay in places Matt called hotels. We even stayed at a big one and I got in a room that moved and took you places!

Recently we have been on a few hikes in some of my favorite places, a mountain called Morrow and a forest with small mountains called Uwharrie. YouWharriee, Ruff, you try to say that! It is tough for a dog to say, how do you humans get that sound out? My human says we have a big trip planned sometime in a few months. I forget how long a month is, it seems a long ways off. I know he will keep reminding me, he did last time!

Ruff, I am getting sleepy again. Maybe I will dream about the desert place again. I hope so, I really liked it there! Well that is all I have to say for this evening. I had my supper and my bed is calling me to hike on another trail, woof!

The Last Leg

March 29, 2016 Odee Leave a comment

For those that have just joined us on Jackson’s blog (he took over my blog here months ago) I am adding this note. We are back from a month-long road trip visiting the desert canyons in the American west. I enjoy traveling, but I always regret my best buddy can’t go on a lot of my adventures. This was one of two we have planned this year centered around Jackson joining in on the grand adventure. Jackson is going to be doing all of the blog posts. We will be posting our photographs on our Facebook pages (and a few here also!)
– Matt

Woof, woof, I meant the title to be a pun, no it is not my last leg! We got back a week ago my human tells me, I have a hard time figuring out how long a week is and I just rely on my human keeping track of non-important stuff like that. I guess it is time for my account of the last part of our trip. Ruff, of course I will write more about what we did, but Matt told me to do a chronological account when I started this. Woof, I had to say stop right there and tell me what “chronolococal” was. That is a new word for me and I didn’t understand. He told me it meant to write the story in the order it happened, or that is what I understood from his explanation.

The view from our campsite in Nebraska at Ft. Kearney State Park.

Ruff, back to my story. In Nebraska we watched some birds he called Sandhill cranes, there were so many I could not even think about trying to count them. Later that morning my human met some friends. After seeing my friends Bob and Paulette Matt said we needed to go because the weather was going to get colder and we might as well start the trip home. We only drove four hours that day so we did not get far. I think Matt said we were in Springsomething Missouri. The next day we were supposed to get up early and leave because my human said we were going to drive for a long time. Well that did not happen, when that thing my human calls a phone (you know that thing you humans look at and talk to all the time) made and irritating sound when it was still dark, he turned it off. We left later then we were supposed to and then drove, and drove, and drove and kept on driving. I think we drove through three states. We went over big rivers and saw mountains again late that evening. Finally we drove up to a house made of logs where a cat lives and I got to meet my Facebook friend Aunt Marlene, my human said we were in southeastern Tennessee. She was real nice to me and gave me fried chicken (without bones) and other good treats. Hobo, the cat, was not too happy with me at first, but he got better before I left.

Aunt Marlene's back yard. — Aunt Marlene’s back yard.

After the long drive we stayed at Aunt Marlene’s place. It was in a quiet valley on a farm near a river called Ocoee. Once again I did not get to swim, ruff! It is a lot smaller than the other rivers, but my human said it was a dangerous one because it flowed so fast. After resting (and getting treats) for a day we got back in the truck after my human packed it back up. We made one more long drive, I got excited because it started smelling like places I knew and had been before. Then I started smelling places close to home and finally we got home in the afternoon so we had time to unpack. Well my human had time to unpack, I watched, woof!

Now that I have I finished my account of our trip I am still going to have more to say about what we did. I tried to let you know what we were doing as we did it. Maybe that is what that “choro” word means, ruff! I still have photographs and videos we have not looked at or edited, so I haven’t had the last word yet, ruff!

The Rock Garden & Nebraska

March 18, 2016 Odee 4 Comments

For those that have just joined us on Jackson’s blog I am adding this note. We are on our way back from a month-long road trip visiting the desert canyons in the American west. I enjoy traveling, but I always regret my best buddy can’t go on a lot of my adventures. This is one of two we have planned this year centered around Jackson joining in on the grand adventure. Jackson is going to be doing all of the blog posts. We will be posting our photographs on our Facebook pages (and a few here also!)
– Matt

Woof! My human changed his mind and we went one more in Colorado. Ruff, if you remember, our Colorado part… I think that is a state. My human keeps telling me we are in a new state. Most of these things he calls states he has been in before he says. But he did say he did go to a new one on this trip. Woof, back to Colorado: My human was upset because the big snow storm messed up his plans for us. We were going to camp near some waterfalls, but that is where we tried to get away from that storm my human friend Nancy called a blizzard. That place was called Rifle Waterfall State park. When we got there it was snowing so we did not do anything there. Then we tried to beat the big snow storm, ruff, I mean blizzard, but it beat us. Then the next day driving over the high places on the road my human called passes was slow and my human was tense the whole time. I could tell he was worried and really concentrating. When we got away from the snow he kept driving, he said he did not want to worry about the road closing again.

When we found a place to stay out of the bad wind, wind like I am not used to, wind blowing all the time hard, I was glad. I could not smell things like I am used to and I didn’t like that. After resting my human said he felt we were cheated out of enjoying Colorado and the last part of out west. He said I did not get to hike much in Colorado also, so he went to a place called the Garden of the Gods. My human said we were going to backtrack some, but it would be worth it, and woof, it was! We went all over looking at the big rocks and big views. I even shot video and still photos. I liked the humans and other dogs there, it was a dog friendly place to go, woof!

Then the next morning we got up early while it was still cold. The water inside the camper had frozen. Matt packed up and started the truck up and said we were going to Nebraska. We drove and drove, late that afternoon we came to a place with a lot of big strange birds. They were flying all over the place, sometimes there were so many they looked like a dark cloud, ruff. We found a nice campground at Ft. Kearney State Park, ruff, I think that is what Matt called it. The next morning we watched the birds land a field land and fly, there were a lot of them. My human said the were Sandhill cranes and were flying to their summer homes. Ruff, can you imagine that?

Well, we will probably be in Tennessee soon, so I will try to write from there, woof, woof!

Arches and Canyonlands

March 13, 2016 Odee Leave a comment

Woof, woof,I’m tired, but I am behind on my blog so I am starting it tonight (Saturday) and will finish in the morning, ruff! We have been so busy since the last time I wrote. We drove from Bryce Canyon to a town called Moab. What a busy and interesting place! We had a hard tiime finding a place to stay, but we did. There are a lot of humans here, racing, riding, and driving big cars and trucks out in the wilderness and city, ruff. We have been visiting two parks here, Matt said they were called Arches and Canyonlands. My human also found out about some places I could go for a hike so we went to a place called Portal Arch. Matt put on my boots so I wouldn’t hurt my feet on those nasty sticky plants. We had a big surprise on the hike and I had to climb up some rocks while my human climbed up a ladder, but I made it okay. then we had to go back, but Matt figured out how to help me. He is pretty smart for a human. We explored the two parks for two days and it was so different than what I am used to at home. Hardly any trees and you can see a long, long way off, ruff!

We got up early today on Sunday, my human said something about time changing. I don’t understand what he meant about that, how does time change? Humans are so strange sometimes, he said it was an hour later, but it looked the same to me. Matt told me I will be going to a new state today, one I haven’t been to before. I think I am beginning to understand what a state is. Each one looks and smells so different than the other. He says we will be going to some more canyons, those are deep holes in the ground and when you are in them you can’t see as far, but you do see some amazing thing like big rocks, sometimes there is a river and sometimes there isn’t, woof!
Well I had better stop writing for now and get ready to go, I am all packed up and ready before my human, humans are so slow sometimes! Of course he is up earlier and is almost ready, he is faster than usual today. Oh, before I forget here is a link to my YouTube video of my hike the other day to Portal Arch:

Bryce Canyon National Park

March 10, 2016 Odee Leave a comment

Woof, woof, we drove from Zion National Park to Bryce Canyon National Park on Tuesday. What a difference between the two places. Both scenery and weather. While in Zion, my human got stuck in a thunderstorm while I was waiting on him in the truck. I was worried about him because it took a while for him to get down off the trail. I was glad he did not get hurt or struck by that bright stuff called lightning! When he got back he was wet all over and cold! He said a lot of foolish humans were still hiking up the mountain and trying to hide under trees and rocky cliffs. Wow, even dogs know better than that!

Some of the humans I met at Bryce Canyon.

When we got to Bryce Canyon we drove and took pictures after we checked into a motel. Matt said it was so cold at night at the canyon it would freeze inside the truck. When we were at the Gila cliff dwellings it got down to 19. I had to get under the sleeping bag and quilt to stay warm. Ruff, I like the room it was much warmer. The next day I went to a hike on the rim of Bryce Canyon and got to see the hoodoos in the canyon and meet a bunch of nice humans. It was a lot of fun. Then my human went for a hike in the canyon, ruff! I am not allowed in the canyon just because I am a dog, so I had to wait in the truck for him.

Wow, it sure is big, but not as big as the Grand Canyon!

Today we are going to a place called Arches National Park, I hope it is fun there too! I hope I can write another blog report then. Woof, woof, see you from there!

PS Woof, if you want to see my hike, here is a link to my YouTube channel and my hike at Bryce Canyon (and other videos too!)

On the Road to and at Zion National Park

March 6, 2016 Odee 4 Comments

For those that have just joined us on Jackson’s blog I am adding this note. We are on a month-long road trip visiting the desert canyons in the American west. I enjoy traveling, but I always regret my best buddy can’t go on a lot of my adventures. This is one of two we have planned this year centered around Jackson joining in on the grand adventure. Jackson is going to be doing all of the blog posts. We will be posting our photographs on our Facebook pages (and a few here also!)
– Matt

Woof, woof! We are now in Zion National Park my human tells me. I told him we needed to stay somewhere in a real room for a few days to rest. He had worn himself out even when he thought he was taking things easy. He says we have driven 3,700 miles, ruff I am not sure what a mile is so I asked him about that. He said there are about 2,000 human steps to a mile so I cannot imagine how many steps that would be such a big number and it would even be more in doggy steps, ruff!

Two days ago we left Page Arizona and went to another state. I am beginning to understand what a state is I think, each one looks so different and the humans talk different too. At some of these places the humans talk in languages I don’t understand, things my humans say are hard enough sometimes, but I don’t understand any words some of those other humans say. Matt told me they are from different countries. What are countries, are they like states? I just don’t know, I am learning so much on this trip.

Humans I met on the Toadstool Trail hike.

On our drive up we made several stops, one was right after leaving Page at Lake Powell and my human didn’t even let me swim there, ruff! Then we went on a hike in the Grand Staircase-Escalante area called the Toadstool Trail and I see why they are called that. Matt said they were also called hoodoos, ruff, such strange names out here in the west. Then we stopped at the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. I watched my human hike out in the sand while I waited under a shady platform, it was hot that day.

One view of some of the toadstools, or hoodoos!

Another view of the toadstools. Matt left his cameras in my photograph, ruff!

When we got to Zion National Park I could tell my human needed some rest so I told him to get a room somewhere that allows dogs. Can you imagine some places don’t ike dogs? One place that said they take dogs asked my human if I was shedding, they said they were picky about who they let stay. Ruff why even bother saying they take dogs anyway – labs always shed, foo on them, ruff!

Yesterday I spent most of the day napping and I tried to get Matt to do the same. He did some, but he stayed working on the computer on our photographs and videos, I finally barked at him and told him to stop so he did, ruff! Then we went for a short drive in the afternoon and stopped by a little cafe in the town we are staying. That town is Springdale, he ate outside so I could sit with him at the table and he gave me some of his pizza to eat, yum that was real good!

Today it has been raining so we are resting and Matt has been planning what to do next. I will not tell yet, but will fill everyone in on my next report, woof, woof! I do know we will be in Zion park for the next day or two so Matt can take more photographs, then we will go to some more parks, ruff!

Day Two at the Grand Canyon

February 29, 2016 Odee Leave a comment

Woof, woof, we both took it a little easier yesterday, my human was tired from the first day at the Grand Canyon. He said we walked seven miles, woof, that’s not much, but I know he tires quicker than I do. Yesterday we only walked three miles, but it was still fun. Matt said we would drive out to the Desert View Watchtower and stop at the overlooks along the way. Ruff, I have a hard time calling them view points because where we live they call them overlooks on the Blue Ridge Parkway!

We went to the Tusayan ruins, my human says Pueblo Indians lived there 800 years ago. He said they only stayed about 20 years, ruff, that’s about how long the Gila cliff dewllers stayed at their place, I wonder why only 20 years? Then we we went to the watchtower, but I stayed in the truck because I couldn’t go in the tower and my human wanted to, ruff! I was surprised it took us as long to drive and take photographs, but we had a great time.

Today my human may go hiking, but I will either have to stay in the truck or go to a kennel. He has to take a big covered truck called a shuttle and they don’t let dogs on those, ruff! He said there was a place he could hike to take some photographs inside the canyon at Yavapai Point. He is not sure, but I will let everyone know in my report tomorrow.

We did have to politely wait our turn to take photographs.

Woof, it’s time for my morning walk, I will woof at you tomorrow!

The Bear & the Convertible

December 19, 2015 Odee 4 Comments

The Bear and the convertible
By Photo Dog Jackson

Woof, woof, this isn’t a tell-all, but my human just thinks he is smarter than me. I have a different opinion on that. There is one thing, among many, that my human doesn’t know. I know a lot about my human since he was a young adult. He has had Labrador retrievers since he was young. Can you imagine living 20 years? He is 61 now. That is a long time and hard to believe, ruff! Each one of his prior dogs have passed on these stories about him to me and if there is another in the future I will pass them and mine on to him or her. You wouldn’t believe what I could tell about him, and I think now is the time to start, woof!

I have been a little bored, woof, but I understand my human needs some rest. Since we aren’t going on adventures right now I am going to tell you about some of the funnier stories about my human’s past. This was a long, long time ago and is passed down from Doc, Matt’s first dog he had when he wasn’t a puppy any more. Doc was a dog like me; he liked the outdoors, hiking, swimming, and more. He would go camping with Matt, some trips they would walk for miles and the set up camp way out in the woods. Doesn’t that sound like fun? Well one time they were camping with another human in the mountains, that’s where the hills are real big! They had the tent set up close to the car. This was a real funny looking car, the top came off, isn’t that neat? They had been driving on a road in the mountains I have been on called the parkway or something like that. The story is Doc said it was fun riding in the little car because sometimes it had no roof. Woof, no roof, what fun!

Well after dinner at the campground they packed everything up and put it in the trunk. Maverick who told me this story passed down from Doc that he though Matt was crazy when he called the trunk of the car a boot. I think so too. From what I understand a boot is something a human wears because they have tender paws and can’t walk around with bare paws like us! Well back to the story because I keep getting distracted and side tracked. The reason Matt put the food in the trunk was to keep some animals called bears from stealing the food. From what I can understand they look like big dogs with no tails, woof! All of them went to bed that night and when they got up the next morning it was foggy. You wouldn’t believe what he saw when he looked at the convertible that foggy morning. Doc could have told him what would happen. He could smell the food from where he was sitting and from what I understand it smelled pretty good. The top of the car looked strange and there was a bear right next to the car. They all made some noise and the bear ran off. After inspecting the car there were problems. The top was ripped and bent and the seats were torn by the bear’s claws. Well to make this story a bit shorter and before I ramble on another subject a report was made with one of the uniformed men at the campground and they packed up and went home. The funny thing was the next day when Matt contacted a placed called insurance. He called and when he told the human on the phone Doc said all he heard was laughing. Matt told his friend that when with him the human said please pardon him and told all the other humans and all they could do was laugh!

My human didn’t think it was funny then, but now he does, woof!

Matt's Triumph in the snow. — Matt’s Triumph in the snow.PS

PS I heard Matt’s car has been restored by a father and son, I would like to get a picture of me and that car, woof!

My Tail, woof, I mean Tale!

November 14, 2015 Odee 4 Comments

Woof, woof, well Matt has been slow to write a blog entry so I told him I would write one for him today. I’ll try to contain my excitement and keep my woofs and ruffs to a minimum. I have really enjoyed taking pictures with my human and jump for joy anytime he gets my harness and camera; I am always ready to go. I eagerly await the words, “ride”, “outside”, “play” and anything like that.

Where do I start? Well I usually tell Matt to start at the beginning so I should take my own advice. A long time ago I found myself back at that place called a shelter, where all the dogs and cats live, for a second time in my life. I was so confused, that day I was two-years-old I thought I was part of a pack, and I thought I was going on a fun ride with my human. Then they left me in that shelter again. I was shocked and hurt, she left me there! I knew something was wrong because I had been there before. After two days had passed I was trying to get someone’s attention to take me away from that awful place. One human came over and played a little with me and then called out “Hey Matt come over and see this dog!” When I saw this human named Matt, I knew this was my person. I had to find a way to go home with him so I ran over, jumped up on him, and in my excitement I accidently stuck my paw in his mouth! I knew I had better make things right after that mistake so I quickly ran over and got a ball to make him forget the paw. To my joy he threw it for me, I was so excited, and then he threw it again, and again. It must have worked because the next thing I knew is I was in a car with him leaving that dog and cat place once again. I sure hope I don’t ever go back.

Maverick and Jackson. — Maverick (foreground) and Jackson (behind the pack) resting during a hike at Morrow Mountain. .

My life since has been quite an adventure after I joined Matt’s pack. There were three of us, Maverick, my new human, and me. At first Maverick didn’t like me, but later we became great buddies. Earlier this year Maverick went to a place Matt called “The Rainbow Bridge” I don’t know what that means. I just know Matt was sad when he came home without Maverick one day and I was sad too.

When my human first got me we all went on hiking and camping trips and one backpacking trip. Then things changed for a while. He didn’t go out or play much and I was worried. He was not able to do what he wanted or what I wanted to do. I can always tell when something is wrong with him and I try to comfort him at those times. Sometimes he sleeps a lot, even more than I do, so I am right next to him guarding and watching. He always tries to look and act well in front of other humans, but I can tell when he really is not feeling well. Woof, but now he is more active! Oops there I go, I let a woof out!

After a while he did more and we went more places. He tells me the backpacking is something we won’t do any more, but we have plenty of camping and hiking to do, Woof! He did let me in on a secret, but don’t let him know I told you. He feels guilty about all the long trips he has taken and left me at doggie camp. Mind you I don’t mind visiting with my friends but I miss Matt when he is gone. Ruff, I got off track, the secret: he said if he can get the truck fixed up, we are going on a big adventure out west! I don’t know what west is, but a trip sounds great! I hope he can get the truck ready!

Well thanks for taking time to read my story and I hope you found it interesting. Now I think it is time to curl up next to the fireplace and take a nap, it is cold this morning.

The Adventures of Odee & Matt