Getting Lost on the Northwest Branch Trail

Though Lady is not what you'd call a high-energy pup, she really does love to go for walks. I was taking her on her own separate, shorter walks at first, but I started to realize that she had the energy and the drive to go with the boys, and it would probably be good for her.

We went on our first substantial hike together on the Northwest Branch Trail. We didn't have that much time for a hike, so we decided to take this trail that is very close by and accessible right off Colesville Road.

With the back seat folded down and the Fit in mini mini van mode, Lady, who does not get along famously with Lamar, had to sit in front.












Which was fine with her, and fine with Florian. 

Lady loved being on the trail. 



Although she huffs and puffs and moves very stiffly when she is in the house, or coming inside from her lair in the dust under my porch, once she is walking she trots right along. 










It can't be easy for her to move, but like all dogs she seems to relish being out and experiencing new things.

Feels really good to just cool down in a nice stream. 
















But then, what dog doesn't enjoy that? 

There were a fair number of people on the trail, but not so many that you couldn't enjoy the intense green nature and near-solitude.  

And a few instances of nature's raw power, a relic of I'm not sure which recent storm. 

There haven't been any substantial storms lately, so I couldn't imagine what could have made large, healthy trees like that go over. A friend suggested over dinner the other night, that the soil around here in some places is so saturated that it doesn't take much. Which makes perfect sense.

In other places, there was unexpected color. 

The trail was gorgeous, and the weather was clearing up, the temperature perfect. Fozzie got to engage in his favorite activity 

and all the dogs were loving the trail. 

Would be hard to imagine a better way to spend a morning.















Except if you're Florian. Florian had a show he had choreographed that he had to get to, which was why we planned to go for just a short hike.

This was the first time we'd done this trail, and somehow when we crossed Northwest Branch, and followed it downstream on the other side, thinking we were heading back in the direction we'd come, we were actually following another tributary. With the result that our short trail ended up taking about 3 1/2 hours, most of it spent not knowing where we were and Florian devising various ways to throttle, or at the very least abandon, his girlfriend and swearing that he would never again come near this trail.

Eventually though, we found our way back to the trail we wanted to be on and though Lady was doing some serious huffing, puffing, and snorting, we arrived back to the car with plenty of time to spare. 

And Florian can't wait to go back to that trail.