Tag Archives: hiking

Arches and Canyonlands

March 13, 2016 Odee Leave a comment

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,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!)

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!

Our Great Side Trip

February 26, 2016 Odee Leave a comment

Woof, woof! So far it has been a great trip but I got bored of all the driving and put my paw down! Too much driving and no fun and I could tell my human was getting tried. I saw him looking at all the big brown signs and saying he would like to go there and finally I told him to go to one. He said we were still in New Mexico and had a ways to go so I thought doing something different would be good. All I have been doing on the trip is taking videos with my camera mounted on the dash of the truck and I wanted to do some real picture taking and hiking, ruff!

Well Matt decided to go to a place where people lived up in the cliffs a long, long time ago. He said they left the area way back in the 12th century, now I have no idea what a century is, but it must be a long time! They lived in these big caves and built houses with rocks. He told me it was the Gila Cliff dwellings. Woof, I got to explore a little one on a smaller trail, my human said that trail is called “Trail to the. Past” We also saw some of the writings of humans that lived there a long time ago, called pictographs (my human told me that word!)

This one looks about the right size for me!

After our visit to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, we drove back on the curving windy road, then all the way to a city called Phoenix where my human met some of his pack and visited for a day. He stayed at his aunt’s (who was very kind and nice to me) and saw a lot of cousins. He also also met an internet friend for the first time, woof! I had a good time.

Today we will be driving again, but not the hundreds and hundreds of miles we have been. Matt said we have gone more than 2,700 miles in five days, ruff and he told me I have been in seven new states. I had to get him to remind me what a state was so he tried to make me understand what they are. I’m still not sure but he said there had boundaries like dogs have their territories. Ruff maybe by the end of the trip I will understand fully. Woof, but back to where we are going. My human said we will be going to a place called Sedona and after that the Grand Canyon!

Woof, woof! I can wait to see those and write about them. I’ll be back here soon to report, ruff!

The second Day

February 21, 2016 Odee Leave a comment

Just to keep everyone up-to-date I am adding this note to Jackson’s post. 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 got Arkansas, my human told me. We had a good time in Huntsville visiting with my human’s old friends the night before. We even left late but they hadn’t seen each other in a long, long time.
We crossed this huge river to get to this place called Arkansas. Matt said it was the Mississippi, he had to spell it for mee, so many s’s and i’s I couldn’t get it right. We spent the night at a place called Lake Catherine State Park near a place Called Hot Springs. He wouldn’t let me swim at all because he said I would stink, I don’t know why he thinks I stink, I always smell good to me.

That’s me sleeping in the camper, woof!

Then we got up early and went to a national park called Hot springs and dang it, my human wouldn’t let me get in the hot spring either. He said someting abuot not wanting us to get in trouble. Woof, me get in truoble, never, ruff!
He is insided eating breakfast while I am writing and posting this, after he finishes eating we are supposed to go to a place call Austin where his cousin lives. We have another long drive he says so I had better finish my story for now. I’ll post more tomorrow, woof!

A view from the tower at Hot Springs National Park.

I didn’t get to go to the tower, ruff!

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