The First (Mini) Hike Of The Year - Part 2

We'd made a sort of circle, the dogs and I, and were heading back toward our parked car through the forest. At least I hoped we were headed the right direction:

The dogs weren't worried, though. They were simply having a grand time running and sniffing:

And the day was spectacularly beautiful:

We found the wood road on which we'd hiked into the forest and there, just ahead of us, was our red car parked at the logging header:

Figuring that this was the end of the hike, the dogs ran excitedly over to the car and waited for me, the slowpoke, to catch up:

But I surprised them and turned in to a clear cut area because it had so little snow:

The cut branches and fallen needles smelled wonderfully piney in the afternoon sun, but the walking was even more treacherous for my injured ankles than the crusted snow had been:

So I turned the dogs back toward the car again - not that they cared. They were happy to go in any direction. It was all fun for them:

And I was pretty darn happy myself, and glad to have survived such a long, hard winter:

"Oh boy, oh boy! Look, Dad! It's the car!" And I was thrilled when I got home, checked my photos and discovered that I'd captured Daphne leaping for joy:

The pooches hopped back up into the car for a joyous ride back out the snowy, slushy, muddy access road: