The Outdoor Cardinals hiking group had an 18 mile hike scheduled for Morgan Territory today which sounded like a lot of fun but I was really wanting to take Sierra with me and I wasn’t sure she could do the whole distance. Hmm, what to do, what to do… of course I took Sierra on a hike instead! =)
Del Valle? Del Valle?? Nope it's Morgan Territory but Sierra gets the idea and is excited to start the hike. =)
The regional parks are normally fairly well marked and you can get maps online at http://ebparks.org which is convenient for planning out your trip ahead of time. I planned a 9.92 mile starting with the Volvon Trail at the Morgan Territory staging area. See below for a detailed account of our hike. Note: Cows were EVERYWHERE and they were huge, many with horns. The junction at Volvon and Eagle trails was the worst (see map) and I had to do quite a bit of off-roading to get safely around all the cows. Fortunately Sierra and I did not get charged and I feel a little more comfortable being around cows again (getting charged by a herd of defensive mothers at Del Valle several months ago put me a bit on edge around the creatures). =)
The plan...hike counter clockwise around the loop for a total of 9.92 miles (can I call that 10 miles?).
One of the coolest things about this hike was that I let Sierra off lead the whole time except for when we encountered cows. This means that she got to run free and hike at her own pace, just like her mama. =)
Sierra was really happy to be able to run free. =)
Crazy muppy running down the hill. Weee!!! =)
When we hit the hills I was much slower than Sierra (she was running up them like a horse) so she would frequently stop to look back and wait for me. What a good dog. =)
While I still had plenty of energy I was stopping much more frequently to take pictures of Sierra. I thought these two were pretty funny because just like my family, Sierra gets tired of having her picture taken (see below).
This was a "posed" picture which means I took a couple in the same spot. After about 4 attempts to get a picture of Sierra looking at me I got this...
Check it, I'm getting the stink eye from my own dog! =)
I also took pictures of the flower and fauna of Morgan Territory including these delicate white flowers..
My new camera combined with the fact that it was overcast allowed me to finally get a nice picture of white flowers.
A cow skull..
Cow skull.. You don't know how tempted I was to take this but ultimately I knew the right thing was to leave it there so I did.
And these frogs…
Froggy Frogs. Happy Valentine's Day! 😉
At the northernmost point of the hike (end of Hog Canyon Trail) I took a picture of Sierra and me. We were soggy from traipsing through wet fields and muddy trails, had been harassed by cows, and I had nearly lost my tennis shoes in mud but we still had the time of our lives. =)
My little hiking buddy. =)
After completing the hike I realized Sierra holds up pretty well on the longer hikes as long as she’s off lead. 18 miles may be a little much but she can definitely hang with the “J Dogg”. 😉
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