Hike and Hound 2007
Posted in Country on July 1st, 2007
Though it seems a little strange to me to go on an organized hike, I put my doubts aside this weekend and took part in the 25th annual Hike & Hound. (Well, not 25th annual, but it’s not the first one, I know that.)
We started by driving about an hour out of NYC to Harriman State Park, a lovely little slice of the New York parks system, in a 15 passanger van full of hounds (and pups). The hike itself was six miles, three up to the lake, three back down, no biggie. But the addition of the hounds made for a rather amusing variable to the experience. I also found that trying to photograph a fast-moving 4 lb. dog in semi-shadowy light without aid of a flash is next to impossible. But I tried…
Over the course of the hike, I got to know some of the hounds: Like Casey, the little Daschund that could, or Amber, the mud-loving Golden Retriever, or Wolfie, the elder stateshound. And, of course, there were some lesser hounds, like Haley, who along with her obnoxious owner proved to be an irritiation almost every time we had to interact. This was punctuated with a nice big vomiting episode in the van on the way back, a situation that the owner was completely unprepared and unable to deal with… The staff for this event was really, really patient.
But, all in all, it was a romping good time. Gypsy hiked the whole thing with us, scampering up and down the hill, scrambling up rocks, and bounding over trees. We even took her swimming in the lake when we broke for lunch, though she was less than pleased when she was dunked in the water and forced to swim to shore (though we more than made up for it with ample servings of kibble and doggie treats). She proved to be the belle of the ball, lapping up attention like it was water in her bowl as we traversed the peaks and valleys of the trail. There’s something about a Chihuahua with a backpack that warms the heart, don’t you think?
Strange, I think the trail we were on is in some sort of South Korean guidebook somewhere, cause the only people we passed were all Korean tourists. Hmm.