The First HIke Of The Season

My sister arrived on Sunday night and would only be here for one day, so we needed to pack as much into that one day as we could. I've become too old and lame for long hikes, but the Rutland Trail, just up the road from home, fit the bill perfectly. We loaded all five dogs into the car and drove 5 miles to the trail head:

I'm sure I don't have to describe how happy the dogs were. Not only were they going for an outdoor run, they had another person along to pay attention to them:

In fact, all five dogs were so well behaved that I never yelled at them once. It was a happy hike:

Those of you in warmer climates may find this snow shocking. The truth is that I find it shocking too, or maybe dismaying would be a better word. But it all melted shortly after we finished our hike:

The official trail is a little boring, so we turned off onto a side trail which follows Allen Brook:

And then walked down to the brook for a closer look:

Absolutely exquisite, peaceful and serene. All this only five miles from home:

Not only was Allen Brook very pretty, but the forest became dominated by old growth White Pines as we proceeded:

My sister hadn't brought a warm enough coat so she put one of my jackets over her coat. Such is life in the north country:

But we didn't go far. My ankles were already painful, so we began retracing our steps back to the car:

As always, the dogs were just as excited and happy to be returning to the car as they were to be leaving it. They don't care. Any excursion is a great joy to them:

With the gate at the road just ahead, we told the dogs to heal. That worked for all of them except Jack, who ran ahead and happily waited for us at the car: