Taz, the Rescue Dog
Taz was rescued from a shelter. I don't know how long he was there, or really how old he is. It's hard to believe he's not a puppy, more because of his behavior than anything else. On the other hand, he responds to voice commands, like he was a working dog before.
Taz is the first dog I've had in about 30 years that I could take hiking with me. I decided very early with him that I would treat him like my first dog, Kris. I took Kris with me everywhere. If he wasn't welcome at a friend's house, then neither was I. And since I go hiking a lot now, Taz goes hiking with me. He really seems to enjoy it, especially when we go somewhere that has lots of "stuff" for him to explore. When there's lots of woods, and low brush, dead fall trees, places where squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits and deer might be hiding. He really seems to like that.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!
from Taz and his Human.
12/21/09
Once the trail's started icing up a month or so ago, most of our "hiking" has been locally. We've both put on some "winter weight".
First day of Winter today... on the other hand, this is the longest night; from here on in, the days will get longer. Before we know it, it will be summer again!!! Back to the real trails!
Summer's Over and Winter Hiking hasn't started yet ... 10/31/09
The snow is not steep enough for us to do long hikes using snowshoes yet. The mountains are just slippery. We've been doing some exploring closer to home. The Blodgett Open Space has been a place of discovery for us. Even though I've been going there for 10 years or so, I'm discovering new "trails" there. My next goal is to go over the ridge and into the Rampart Range road area, from the Blodgett parking lot. That will be quite a hike.
And, it's still a little too early for going boarding.
We completed Evans from Guanella Pass! 9/20/09
We Just did Evans... 9/18/09.. so Taz has summitted 4 14ers so far. He seems to enjoy them and get more excited each time!
Taz is a peak-bagger! He has summitted 3 14ers so far: Mt Bierstadt, Grays Peak and Torrey's Peak. Since he's a dog, he won't be able to do all 54 in Colorado, since there are more than a couple of technical climbs. I don't think he's really into technical climbing, not having an opposable thumb or 2. He really does seem to enjoy it. His favorite hiking food? Clif Bars.
September 20, 2009
Finally, after 3 attempts this month, Taz and I summitted Mt Evans from the West slope of Mt Spalding. I've been wanting to find that route for about 10 years now. Yahoo!
photos of trip
September 1, 2009
Fun Hike! We went after the West approach of Mt Evans from Guanella Pass. Long hike, we summitted Mt Spalding! Not Mt Evans! It was fun, but I felt pretty silly.
Taz is on the right. :)
August 17, 2009
Taz and I got a little too ambitious. Ok, I did. We summitted both Gray's and Torrey's Peak. I NEVER do 2 14ers in a day. Well, today, we did. And Taz did fine the whole time. Well, he started acting tired the nearer we got to the trailhead, at the end of the hike. But it seems he's "optimized" for uphill travel. On the uphill portions, he's always ahead of me, and turning around like he's saying, "Hurry up, Popz!" .
The next day, we're both pretty pooped. But it was a great day on the mountain, the weather was beautiful, and the scenery was spectacular. As always, Taz made lots of friends. There were people who we would run into at different times who would say, "Hey, look, it's Taz! "... I love it!
Summit of Gray's Peak
August 14, 2009
We went to a local track and did some walk/run working out. I think Taz was a little confused as to why we were running and walking in a circle. I think he just enjoys doing whatever dumbass thing I do! :) I'm trying to get back into running and doing the "Couch to 5k plan". More on this can be found at coolrunning.com We went when things were slow at "the office". Good thing I did it when I did, because soon after we got back to the house, the pager started going off like 3 Mile Island with a core-meltdown.
August 3, 2009
I haven't been sleeping all that well lately. I sometimes wake up, on my day's off, at 1am or so. In the last week or so, I've dealt with that by going hiking. This morning Taz and I went to the Barr Trail at 3am. I have a headlamp for hiking at night. This is the week of the full moon, but nothing was visible on the Barr Trail. I guess the moon was below the southern ridge of the hike. We hiked up to Barr Camp, which is roughly halfway to the Pikes Peak summit. Both distance- and elevation-wise. We didn't set any records, but we were hiking in the dark for the first two and a half hours! The bad part came on the return. It was around 7:30 or 8 by the time we got to the last 3 miles, and a lot of that has no shade. Taz was really suffering. I had to stop a couple of times, give him some water, let him sit in some shade for a few minutes and keep going.
The total round trip distance was 14 miles. Longest hike for him, hiking with me.
It was a good hike, but I'll have to plan it better for Taz. He seems to dislike heat even more than I do. That's really quite amazing!
July 27, 2009
We went to hike the Abyss Lake Trail. This trail goes up to the lake at the base of Mt Bierstadt and Mt Evans. Though it doesn't go very high, it is a very long trail. It's a 12 mile round trip hike. We were both pretty tired by the time we were done. After looking at my GPS log, I didn't actually reach Abyss Lake... I reached a lower lake. Abyss Lake would have been another 2 miles, and 800 feet higher.
Looking at the sky
Taz in the Shade
July 22, 2009
Today Taz got to go on his first boat ride... And of course, I didn't bring a camera! We drove out to Eleven Mile Reservoir and rented a 16 foot "Lund" boat. This is a pretty basic wide, flat bottom boat with a small outboard motor on it. Taz wasn't crazy about it... he doesn't really like water. But I bought him a life jacket for dogs, which he didn't like either, and took him for a ride in a boat. I kind of want to get back into doing things on the water, fishing, maybe even water-skiing, and want him to get used to it.
He didn't mind too much when we got going faster... he likes the wind in his face.. it's kind of like riding in the car!
July 21, 2009
We went back to Gray's Peak.. This time we hiked up to about 2 miles in, and took a left (heading south) across the creek and
headed towards the old mining road that stops around Mt Edwards, a 13'er. Since many hikers in Colorado are
"Peak Baggers", the trails that DONT go to 14ers, are pretty lightly used.
So, we had a nice leisurely hike up to about 12,500 feet. Took a break on a nice knoll and strolled on back to the car, and drove back to town. I will add some pictures.
July 13, 2009
Taz and I hiked Mt Bierstadt. We summitted this time. More on that at: Link to a photo gallery of trip
July 6, 2009
Taz and I hiked Gray's Peak. That's a "14er" just off of I-70 between Georgetown, CO and the Eisenhower Tunnel. It was our first attempt to hike
a mountain that high. Link to a photo gallery of trip
