While Slugger was in surgery we wanted to stay nearby in case there were any complications. So we went to our most favorite place to hike – Cougar Mountain. Talk about memories. This is where Wazzu and I hiked together for 2-3 hours every weekday for a year when she first came to live with us….and when I was still healthy.
The girls know these trails backwards and forwards. They feel more at home on these trails than anywhere else in the world. It is here that we taught the dogs to always wait at trail junctions. They are pretty good at that no matter where we go. But today they were 100% perfect. Interesting how they remember things.
Before we started the hike we went to the overlook. It was a little hazy today so we couldn't see the mountains but it was clear enough to see the lake and city.
We had plenty of time so we did a number of the trails. It was a sunny day in the mid 50's so it was a very pleasant time. As always, the trails were very empty - we only passed two other people the entire three hours we hiked.
One of the trails here goes by some old mine shafts. Over the years, a number of people have gone missing while hiking on this mountain. It is thought that they fell into one of the mine shafts. Only one of the mines is covered. The rest just have a wood rail fence around two of the sides. We only went on that trail once as it is just too dangerous. But we do go on the trail that has the covered mine shaft. As you can see, it is covered with a metal grating. It is very difficult to get a picture of the shaft through the grating - at least with the lighting we had today.
So to try to give you an idea of what it looks like, Mike knelt on the grating to get the camera down between the grating to get a picture. It's hard to tell the angle - but in these pictures you are looking straight down.
As you can see the holes are large and go straight down. There isn't a slope around the edge. So if you're hiking through the brush and go one step too far, you're gone. The shafts go down hundreds of feet and there is a large pool of cold water at the bottom. So if you fall in - it's the end. Scary!!
Another interesting fact about Cougar Mountain is that there is a pond here that is a very dense breeding pond for the Northwestern Salamander. The salamander eggs are in little jelly-like sacks that are laying around in the shallow parts of the water. We saw hundreds of these sacks in this pond. Each sack, depending on its size, has well over a hundred salamanders. Here is one of the smaller sacks. Each green spot is a salamander.
The pond was so still that the reflection of the trees was so strong. It's almost hard to tell that there is actually water in this picture.
Wazzu took a minute to look at the pretty little pond.
The scenery on these trails is so varied. In addition to the mine shafts and the pond there is a huge clay pit. This has been a favorite place of the dogs for years. However, we skipped that area today since we were short the "lure." But there was still plenty of beauty to be seen.
The paths here are so pretty as they wind through the green forest.
At one point we went over a little bridge that takes us over a very pretty little creek.
Wazzu is super happy to be back in Washington. Why? Because here you can put your head way down in the dirt and not have to worry about getting sick! You may have to worry about getting bitten by whoever lives in the hole. But, that never seems to concern her.
Another good thing about the forest is that there are many scents. I don't know what they all are but Wazzu is sure there is one here!
Of course when you find a good scent you have to call you hiking buddy over to check it out too.
While the dogs are busy air scenting we spend the time enjoying the beauty of the distant Cascade Mountains.
There were some pretty sights in the forest as well. The Western Trillium were in full bloom.
I don't know what kind of mushroom this is but we saw it on a few different trees.
The girls were having a great time but after three hours it really was time to go and leave these beautiful trails.
We had a number of errands to do. And it was such a pleasure to do them! It is so nice to be in an area where we know where all the stores and how to get everywhere without needing a map. One of our errands took us to a specialty pet store. The girls loved this stop. Sparkie just goes out of her mind - it is total sensory overload. There are food, treats, and goodies all over the store right at nose level. Oh my goodness, what to do?! Wazzu didn't even notice the goodies. She was way too busy making friends with the three store kitties. She was laying down with them right at their level, nose to nose, wagging her tail as fast as it would go. It was very cute. Earth Pet is a very small store but very popular. At one point there were the three cats, our two dogs, two large labs, and a german shepherd all in the store at once. But there was no problem as each animal seemed to have a different agenda. I'm pretty sure the atmosphere was much calmer once Sparkie left!
One of our errands took us to a small shop we have frequented for years. We were devastated to find the shop owner had aged 10 years in just the past year. She couldn't follow a conversation and despite having been friends with us she didn't seem to remember us. After finally getting through with our business she suddenly broke down. She really needed an ear to listen. So we stayed about 45 minutes as she tearfully told us of her troubles. This was the first time she had let it all out. I'm so glad we went there today - I sure hope we helped.
Shortly after that we got the call we had been waiting for. Slugger's surgery went well. It turns out it was a complete tear of the ACL. Fortunately, the meniscus was in great shape and very little arthritis had developed. They checked out his other knee (which they fixed four years ago) and said it looked perfect.
Time to head back home and get the house set up as a recovery center.
Debbie
4/30/07
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