Adventurous and Illegal

This past week offered an opportunity to go on another Swiss Mystery Hike. Florian loves to take me and all the dogs somewhere for a hike without telling us where we're going. 


Zuzi, where are you taking me? is my usual question.
Don't worry zuzu, I bring you to thees amazing place, is the only response.  

This time, I figured out pretty quickly that we were headed to Great Falls along the Potomac in MD. The first part of the hike is along a wide trail above the river.

Then you follow the C & O Canal, which parallels the river. 

Then, we took a detour off this main trail and I started to remember the particular place we were going.  

That magical place where we took Tashi a few months before she passed, where a landscape of rocks and forest opens up between the canal and the river and where the rocks tower above the river, creating a canyon almost like where Tashi and I used to visit the hot springs on the Rio Grande in New Mexico. 

Once again, Sandy channeled Tashi as she stood looking out over the river from those warm sunny rocks.  

On our way out, we found the sign for the trail we'd been on and found it was the infamous Billy Goat Trail. A trail I'd wanted to check out forever but due to the treacherousness of the rocky terrain, no dogs are allowed. 


Good thing we didn't know that before we did the trail! Leave it to that Swiss guy to push us to the limit every time.