Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I hope you got some squeaky toys and cookies too!

Friends, family, food, fun...

Moriah with MORIAH!!!

Hi!!!

My Moriah

This hike was special because it was Mt Moriah with My Moriah! She has already hiked this mountain before, but I made her promise to hike it with me during my 4,000 footer quest. It was a lovely fall day with shiny sky and pretty leaves.

We started out on the Stony Brook trail following blue blazes. It was was very easy to start and there was lots of water until we got the ridge. Really, it took a while for the trail to get Stony. When it gets steep there will be one more water crossing, depending on the time of year. We saw a lady with a dog and a puppy on the easy part. The puppy was surprised to see another dog and really just needed to take a chill pill. The other dog and I exchanged glances and rolled our eyes. There were a few other dogs later on the trail too. When we took a snack break and my pack was off a woman coming up the trail thought I was a bear! How silly. Bears are not this handsome.

Boardwalk

There were boardwalks as we got to the ridge. I finally learned my lesson and stayed ON the boardwalks the whole time! (Laura note: see Osceolas and Zealand) We followed white blazes along the Carter-Moriah trail which took us up some rocky ledges with views galore! The rocks were warm from the bright sun and the leaves had changed so it was very pretty.

Very steep spot before the summit

There is a sign before the tip top that is at a trail junction, but from our side it did not show the direction we needed to go. Check both sides of signs! At the sign on our Carter-Moriah trail was a really really steep spot. It was kind of like a mini-Chimney for me.  There was a 5 foot section that I need a lot of help with going up and down. But after that it was very close to the summit.

We had lunch on the summit with some other people. It’s not very big but you can see all the way around just over trees. It was actually prettier on the ledgy trail coming up. One guy was “golfing” all the mountains and took a long time to take a photo just right. Another lady loved me and gave me lots of attention whilst I basked in it and the sun. There was also a big group taking a summit photo and I totally photobombed it. I just pushed my way

My new fan

through their legs into the front row. I wish I had that picture.

Bye!

~Frisco

Moriah

Elevation: 4,049 ft

Trails: Stony Brook Trail, Carter-Moriah Trail

Distance: 10 miles

View from ledges!

More photos of course!

Created with flickr slideshow.

Walk for Rescues

Hi!!! 

Hall Mt Trailhead

My Laura got home early today and we went for a walk on the road. I prefer to walk in the woods, but it is getting dark faster and the trees make the trails even darker. We walked to the Hall Mountain Trailhead which is where we usually start hiking in Bear Brook State Park. It’s not that far away so I could just walk to the park but I like walking longer in the woods.

When we walked by some ponds that go right up next to the road, something big jumped in the water with a really loud splash! It was scary; both me and Laura jumped. I think it was a giant snappy turtle. I didn’t want to be anywhere around that and pulled Laura past the water. When we passed by again, Laura wanted to look for it but I said NO WAY!

C'mon Laura!

That was a scary noise. Let's leave!

No way!

This walk was also special because we fed a rescue dog! Well, we didn’t actually feed a dog YET, but we helped. Laura’s smartypants-phone maps our walks and the app has a sponsored Challenge: if people log one million miles of dog walks by October 28th, Purina is donating 10,000 meals for rescue dogs! This is really nice. I was a rescue dog so I like helping other dogs out while they are waiting for their homes.

We added 2.5 miles to the total today. So far there are 692,683 miles! There are 15 days left! Take your human for a walk and make sure they log onto Map My Fitness on the smartypants-phone. You might even be able to log it online if you don’t have one. Spread the word! Send out the Twilight Bark!

Learn more here: http://www.mapmyfitness.com/purinaproplan/

Bye!

~Frisco

I was in a Parade!

Hi!!!

No mountain this time! Instead I walked in a parade! The town of Raymond is celebrating it’s 250th birthday this year. Wow, that is 1,750 in dog years! My mama and papa run the Raymond Animal hospital and I am the poster-pup.  See? The logo is a black dog and a white cat.  I’m the black dog! My Dexter kitty is orange so he had to stay home.

The Team!

A lot of local businesses from Raymond and other places were in the parade. Right behind us were some big-horses pulling a wagon. I really wanted to go meet the horses but my

Laura said they didn’t want to meet me today. I don’t know why. I’m very nice.

We had to line up for a long time and it was very boring so we went and explored some of the other groups. The Shriners brought mini monster trucks, Hannford brought a mini tractor trailer, and there were lots of mini footballers and cheerleaders. There were big things too! Besides the big-horses, there were old cars, marching bands, and tons of firetrucks. We got a big firetruck put in line right in front of us. That was not fun. I couldn’t see around it and it smelled bad. They were putting trucks and bands interspersed with all the other people in the parade. I met a guy from the Middlesex County Fife & Drums he had a big hat and sticks that I was sure about.

The parade was so slow! I hike up mountains faster, but I guess they want everyone to see

everything. We ran back and forth to the sides of the road to meet people. I waved to the

crowds and did some twirls, but mostly just said hi to people. They loved me. They also liked our “float” which was just my people carrying a banner and pushing a gurney with Snappy all bandaged up on it. I don’t know what happened to him, but he looked like he was in rough shape. But he had IV fluids and a get well balloon so he was well taken care of.

It was fun to be in a parade even though it was slow and I didn’t get to do a mountain. I liked meeting the people and especially this kid who loved me and gave me a huge hug again after the parade.

Bye!

~Frisco

Created with flickr slideshow.

Arrrrrrrf!

 Avast me hearties! It be Talk Like a Pirate Day. Time to plunder and pillage for some cookies I mean Treasure!

Whiteface & Passaconaway

Take the bridge to Blueberry Ledge Trails

Hi!!! 

Whiteface and Passaconaway were my #12 and #13 so now I am 1/4 done the 4,000 footer list! It was good to get these two done but it was a long and steep trip. Laura, Moriah, and I did at least 12.5 miles! This is a hard trip for dogs. Make sure you are in shape and like to climb!

The parking lot is on the right side of the road and you have to walk to some of the trailheads. For the one we started on, you have to walk down the dirt roads and private driveways to the trailhead, but they are nice and let hikers in. We started on the Blueberry Ledge Trail and then took the Cutoff. It was the same distance, but it went a different way. The cutoff went near the water for a little bit and then starts climbing. It was STEEP! It was also dirt and not much rocks or roots so it was sometimes slippy. The whole cutoff was flat then STEEP then flat the STEEP.

one of many climbs

When you get back to the blueberry ledge trail, there are rocks and stairs. Then you start getting LEDGES! There are lots of rocks to climb. My Moriah tried to get me to go the way she went on one of them but I didn’t like it and got up easier another way. Other ones were big jumps so My Laura took my backpacks off for the narrow spots. They both had to give me some help on the big ones, but since I have four feet, some of it was easier for me than for my humans.

Oh yeah, blueberries! The Blueberry Ledge Trail is supposed to have blueberries on it. We took the cutoff for most of that part so it also cut off the blueberries. There were a few scraggly bushes when we came back to the main trail at the ledges but there wasn’t a good snack.  Luckily, Laura brought Backup Blueberries!

not many blueberries on the ledges... bring your own!

not-quite-peak marker

We had lunch on top of the USGS peak marker. It’s a nice spot to stop hiking if you don’t keep track, but the peak marker is NOT the real peak. It’s mean to put a peak marker there if it is not the real peak! You have to keep going on the Rollins Trail even though it goes down before going back up to the high point of Whiteface. We went right away after lunch because of dark clouds. I didn’t want rain again! At least there are trees almost everywhere on this hike.

Whiteface official summit

After you go down and up again it flattens out when you are trying to find where the top is. If you feel like you went over a speed lump, turn around and look for a pile of rocks. The pile is on the east side of the trail. There is also a smiley face in a dead tree so you can be happy to know that you found the top!  :)

There was a lot of up and down on the Rollins Trail and when we got to the little loop for Mt Passaconaway it started out looking nice but sure got STEEP again. There was also water on this beginning part of Dicey’s Mill Trail. And by water on it I mean the trail was the water or the water was the trail. (Laura note: I don’t know if this is normal, but it was a shallow stream down a short section of the trail.)  At the top, there is a mini-trail to the summit with a sign that is trying to point in the right direction. There is a tiny tiny pile of rocks in the woods to say you made it. It was so small that it only was as high as my chest! 

tiny Passaconaway summit cairn

We kept going in a loop back down to see a different trail. There is a trail that goes opposite the mini-summit-trail, but since it was cloudy we did not bother. (Laura note: I hear it has great views but it is .3 miles one way and loses elevation.) There were different views just around the corner anyway on the Walden Trail. Going down this side still had lots of steep. I almost did some headstands because it was so steep.

Once you get back to the Dicey’s Mill Trail and get below the ridge, it is a very nice trail. It was fairly smooth too, thought it took a long time to get back. There was one river crossing that had a fat log to use if you don’t like getting your paws wet. When you get to the end of the trail, you come out at someone’s farm yard. You just keep going on the dirt road back to the parking lot. We took a quick foot-dip in the river which was nice after the long long hike.

log bridge

Phew, I am tired just writing about it! I wrote a long blog for a long trek. This was fun but challenging. It is not easy at all for new dogs. Even if you are an old dog learning new tricks, it is very hard. There might be other options to get there that I haven’t tried. Do some good practice hikes before this one and work on distance if you do both at once!

Bye!

~Frisco

Whiteface, Passaconaway
Elevation: 4,020 ft, 4,043 ft
Trails: Blueberry Ledge Trail, Blueberry Ledge Cutoff, Rollins Trail, Walden Trail, East Loop, Dicey’s Mill Trail, Ferncroft Road
Distance: ~12.5 miles

Created with flickr slideshow.

Falling Waters Loop

Hi!!!

one of many waterfalls

Lincoln and Lafayette were my first 5,000 footers! But they still count on the list for 4,000 footers even though they are really 5,000 footers. This is confusing. Anyway, they are the 6th and 7th highest peaks in New Hampshire and they are #10 and #11 that I have done!

We hiked these mountains using the falling waters loop. It is very popular and had lots of people even though we didn’t go on the weekend. We started by going up the Falling Waters Trail. You can probably guess that there are waterfalls on this trail! There is plenty of water to drink for at least halfway up to the ridge. You also get wet feet a lot because the trail is next to the river and crosses it a few times. There was one spot that I needed a boost because it was slippery steep steps cut into a rock. Other than that, it was a fun trail.

Rocking out in my hiking boots!

When you get to the ridge you are actually on Little Haystack Mountain. Even though that one is a 4,000 footer, it doesn’t count on The List. I don’t know who makes the rules. We had a snack and then put on my hiking boots! This was the first time I have worn my boots on a big-mountain. They protect my paws from the sharp rocks and lichens. I like getting extra attention for being a super-cool hiking dog in boots.
The ridge is above tree line.

made it to Lafayette!

That means there are no trees up there! The clouds came over the ridge the whole time we were hiking across. It also started raining hard and there was even a little big of hail. I said we should just keep going since we were above tree line and had to go a long way and didn’t know how long it would last. We only took a few quick pictures in between the rain showers and at both peaks. Of course it stopped raining when we were finally going down again. We took the Greenleaf trail to Greenleaf hut and had lunch, dried out, and looked up at the cloud-free ridge.

sunny on the way down

After the hut you take the Old Bridle Path. It is supposed to be a trail for horses or at least it was when it wasn’t Old. I’ve met some horses and they are a lot bigger than me, but I don’t think they could get up and down the top half of that trail. I think being shorter made it easier on the steep stuff because I had better balance than the humans. Halfway down it got much better and maybe horses could still do it.

 

Check out my other photos!

Created with flickr slideshow.

Bye!

~Frisco

Lincoln, Lafayette
Elevation: 5,089 ft, 5,260 ft
Trails: Falling Waters Trail, Franconia Ridge Trail, Greenleaf Trail, Old Bridle Path
Distance: 8.9 miles

Waumbek

Trailhead

Hi!!!

Wow, I have three whole trips to catch up on! The First one I’ll tell you about was my #9: Mount Waumbek. This mountain is up north, but not the most northly mountain. That one is Cabot but we didn’t do it yet.

This was a nice and easy hike. It was over 7 miles but it did not get steep and wasn’t very rocky either. It is dog friendly! I met 3 labs that were running all over the trail WITHOUT carrying their own backpacks. I just kept going with my people because we were on a mission to summit this mountain!

Trees

My people on this trip were my Laura, my Moriah, and the New Kid. We were Team Red because we wore red! The girls wore red bandanas to match my red feather and backpack.  I don’t like wearing bandanas when I’m hiking because it gets hot. My fur stays out of my eyes on its own. Anyway, the New Kid did really good since it was her first big-mountain! I liked teaching someone my size what to do on the trail. She loved me. 

Starr King Marker

Fireplace on Mount Starr King

Back to the trail. It is just one trail so you shouldn’t get lost. It is called the Mount Starr King Trail because someone decided that Mount Starr King is cooler than Waumbek even though Waumbek is taller and is the one that counts. There is a spring right next to the trail maybe halfway up where I got a good drink even though I brought my own water. At the first top, Mount Star King has a marker in a rock and then a fireplace around the corner. We stopped at the fireplace clearing for lunch before going on to bag Waumbek. Bag means you put it in a bag, but I don’t know how you are supposed to put a mountain in a bag!!  That would be a really REALLY big bag.

To go to Waumbek, you keep going on the Mount Starr King Trail which is hiding to the

Waumbek pile of rocks in the woods!

right of the fireplace. They don’t even change the name when you keep going to Waumbek! It doesn’t have a cool marker at the top either, just a big pile of rocks in the woods. If you want to see something besides trees, you can go just a little bit further past the pile of rocks. We did but it was cloudy and blurry in the distance. We turned around and it dripped on us. The humans put on rain coats and it stopped. After the hike, we finished up by finding a river to do a foot dunk! It was nice and cold and refreshing.

Post-hike foot dip

Extry photos:

Created with flickr slideshow.

Bye!

~Frisco

Waumbek
Elevation: 4,006 ft
Trails: Mt Starr King Trailf
Distance: 7.2 miles

Liberty and Flume - #7 and #8!

Hi!!!

Stairs! It got steep on this trip

Last weekend I did another hike with TWO mountains! Mount Liberty and Mount Flume are usually done together in a loop but the Flume Slide Trail is not nice to paws so we went up Liberty Spring Trail and across to Flume and back again. It was a big day but it was good. Now I have 8 of the big-mountains done!

We had to start by parking the car 0.9 miles away from where the trail really starts. It was a warm up at the beginning of the day but it took FOREVER to be done at the end of the day. The main trail was pretty steep most of the time and I did need a little help on  big rocks on both sides of Mount Liberty. Did you know that Liberty Spring Trail means there is a SPRING on Liberty on the trail? A spring is a place where you can get water! It is near the ridge at the tent site.

On top of Liberty

It looked cloudy when we started, but it was so nice on the peaks! Liberty was first and you could see alllll around. The west side is the town of Lincoln, North and South Kinsman, Franconia Notch, and Canon Mountain. The east side is the 100 Mile Wilderness with Owl’s Head and the Bonds. There are even more mountains in every direction! (Laura note: 38 of NH’s 4,000 footers are visible according to “The 4000-Footers of the White Mountains”)

Look at the views!

East

West

Looking at Liberty from Flume

It was a nice break and we didn’t really want to keep going but we needed to get Flume and it would be silly to come back on a different day. Of course we had to go DOWN before going back up to Flume.  That was not as fun. But Flume has a nice cliff for views and we got a second lunch (more Tail Mix!). Then we had to go down and up (AGAIN!) back to Liberty before going all the way back down the same trails. I didn’t get a third lunch, but I found a comfy spot in the rocks during snack break.

When we finally got back we had worked hard and it was easy to convince my Laura to drive us to ICE CREAM! Two peaks definitely deserves ice cream. I made new friends: TWINS. They are super cute and they loved me. I know you are jealous. One of them wanted to borrow me. It was very flattering but I was very tired and ready to go home and go to bed. Next time you can keep petting me again and I always like hugs!

TWINS!

More photos of me and my trip!

Created with flickr slideshow.

Bye!

~Frisco

Mount Liberty, Mount Flume

Elevation: 4,459 ft, 4,328 ft

Trails: Whitehouse Trail, Liberty Spring Trail, Franconia Ridge Trail

Distance: 10.1 miles

No Moose on Moosilauke

Hi!!!

Visitor sign in

I hiked Mount Moosilauke with my Laura and my Moriah. It was my first big-mountain that went up high above the trees. We did not see any moose but we did find moose poop! (Laura note: Moosilauke is not named after moose.)

 

log-bark!

We started on the road that goes to the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge. Lots of people like it there because there were lots of cars parked along that road. The beginning was confusing because there weren’t always signs until you picked a trail and then you could find one a little later. Laura signed us in on the visitors log-bark and we continued on Gorge Brook Trail. I liked this trail.  There was water a lot and it didn’t get very steep. There was even a sign to tell you when there wasn’t going to be any more water!

Trail above tree line

When we got up high, it started getting colder and windy but there were still little trees to keep out some wind. Then all of a sudden there were no more trees and boy was the wind strong. Laura and Moriah got out their jackets and put their legs back on (humans have funny clothes). We got to the top of the mountain and took pictures in the wind. It was so pretty and you could see lots and lots of mountains all around! Someone also put a flag at the top and was always blown open. It was also busy up on the peak because it was lunch time and everyone was trying to find a spot out of the wind. It was colder up there than it was down low. I found a comfy spot in the rocks and had my Tail Mix. Yum!

On top of the world!

 

On the way down when we first got to the trees and just out of the wind, we met a group coming up. It was lots of pretty girls. They all said how cute, handsome, soft and fluffy I am AND how awesome I was for carrying my own pack. They loved me!

pretty girls

Here are more photos:

Created with flickr slideshow.

Bye!

Frisco

Mount Moosilauke
Elevation: 4,802 ft
Trails: Gorge Brook Trail