Andrew Schrauben

It's nice and warm here - almost 60 - so we took advantage of the weather to hike with the dogs and play a little fetch. I'm just going to write about the hiking part since I had the camera during that portion.

The Flat River is near our house and there's a nice little trail network that runs by it. You wouldn't think you'd have to climb a steep hill to reach a river, but that's what we're doing in order to access a nice flat spot for fetching. You can see how high we are above the floodplain on the far side of the river and we're just halfway up the hill.

Near the top of the hill we're much higher, but the view isn't quite as good since some cedar trees block part of the view. Still, it's this view is well worth the climb up the leaf-covered trail.

We call Haven a "mountain goat" because she has no fears or problems negotiating steep terrain. Beacon, however, prefers to avoid it. He usually watches from a safe position as Haven contemplates whether satisfying her curiosity will be worth the trip back up this steep slope.

It's even tougher to climb when the ground is soft and covered in dry leaves, like today. Amanda did a hill repeats workout earlier today so it's pretty impressive that she tackled this hill just a few hours later. Notice how dogs make hills look so easy to climb!

Haven has a very strong curiosity drive so while Beacon is dutifully retrieving sticks from the river, Haven occasionally takes little sorties through the woods. What she's chasing, who knows, but she's loves to just run around weaving among the trees. On the last photo I attempted to apply some artistic touch with Picasa's soft focus effect and I think it looks pretty cool.