The morning was spent preparing and laying out the gear then figuring out who would carry what. In the end all the packs were well balance for each others specific weight. Xavier’s pack ended up 3.5kg. I wanted to keep it around 2.5kg for his first trek but he insisted he could carry the specific items he requested. He did very well and only needed me to carry his pack at the steepest point of the trek for about .5 km. I had to pack dog cage in my pack for Surf (The lab puppy) he still isn’t toilet trained and we were worried about him peeing in the tent at night. Sparky (The pug) is a seasoned trekker and only needs food to be happy on treks.
- We arrived at grandmas around 12:00. We explained our route and our pick up destination for the following day 12:00pm at Fukashi Area. after a nice lunch the weather forecast was still calling for rain so we put on our rain gear and dawned our packs. After a quick photo-op we were off.
- We set off from grandma’s house along the river bank. Everyone was excited including the dogs. There was a short period where we had to follow the main roads. Xavier complained that we were not trekking in the mountains. He suggested next time we get dropped off at the base of the mountain.
- Soon enough we were at the base of the mountain. It took us 1 hour to do 2km. Remember Surf the lab is only 2 months old he still doesn’t have good legs. We took our first break here, which everyone needed it seems none of us have legs!
- We reached the summit of the first mountain a whopping 241 meters. Xavier was excited anyway now he can run down the mountain! It had not started to rain and the trail was pretty dry so I had him changed into his sneakers. Up until now he had been wearing rubber boots. No good for hiking but we couldn’t find any hiking boots in a size 16, and couldn’t have broken them in in time anyway. Half way down the lab told us he could go no more so I carried him for a bit then we took a break. When we started off again he still wasn’t ready so I carried him bit more.
- We reached the other side of the mountain and were back in civilization. We had to walk the main road again for about 1km before reaching the next mountain. We took a break first though and enjoyed eating our “Gorp” (trail snack) ours consisted of spicy beer snacks, peanuts, chocolate covered cookies, bite sized sembe, and all sorts of other goodies.
- Xavier had his first stumble hurting his knee on the road. He was a trooper though and kept on going.
息子は、じゃり道で転び、かなりの勢いで膝をぶつけたようですが、歯を食いしばり歩き続けました。
15:59(4.9km)
- It has been up hill most of the way and Xavier’s legs are getting tired. We started to see large patches of snow here and there. We took break here and since the first break earlier in the day everyone seemed to think that daddy’s big pack is the best place to rest. Everyone scrambled on top and the dogs got some shut-eye.
- We were close to the summit it has been along way up for Xavier carrying his pack all this way. So I decided to carry it for him for a bit. I just hooked it on the front of my pack, with Xavier’s pack and the lab I was now carrying and extra 7 kg up to the summit. This one was around 350 meters. Mommy had to carry Xavier the last 100-200 meters he was just tuckered out.
– We reached the summit and were very close to the camp. It was downhill to the camp from here. Xavier and the lab were rejuvenated and were running and singing now. The trail was a bit muddy and had some larger puddles here so Xavier need to be lifted over a few of them. The Lab tried to run full tilt a long this stretch but lost his legs and did a full somersault head over tail. But he got right back up and kept running.
We arrived at the base of the camp. I selected a wide open grassy area. Which has rolling slopes up to the ridge line you can see the larger snowy mountains in the distance and has a great view to the North, East, and South. It gets plenty of sun and lots of room for the dogs to run around. Unfortunately it is a grassy area so there would be no campfire not even a small one. To get up to the grassy area though there was a pretty steep bank to get up first. It was about 5 meters high so I used the roped to help Xavier, and mommy get up the bank easier. The pug needed no help and actually climbed it twice just for fun. He is the strongest of us all, while we had just completed 6.9 km he must have finished around 20 km running back and forth.
Today was a busy morning. I was doing some computer work most of morning the rushed to pick up Xavier from kindergarten. He was planning to have a BBQ with his friends so we set up the BBQ and waited for his friends. While we waited we dug up some rocks around the yard looking for dinosaur bones.
When mom returned home we decided to go look at pets we Xavier protested that he wanted a rabbit, a hamster, a cat, and a dog. So we set off to a local pet store. To be honest I don’t really enjoy the pet stores I would much rather save a pet from the rescue shelter. Unfortunately Odate does not have one. We called the closest one in Akita city the week before but there were no compatible dogs our 6-year-old pug. He is afraid of other dogs so…
Relaxing where the puppy can't get me up on the bench!
Anyway at the local pet shop we found a lab puppy. We brought our pug with us and let them meet face to face. The pug was of course scared out of his wits with his tail between his legs. But he didn’t attack, or growl at the puppy so we figured it should be OK in the future. We decided to give the lab puppy a home. So after filling out some papers we got the dogs into the truck then headed to Homemac for some new dog supplies.
Chasing a pug is tough work!
At home everyone settled in. The puppy searched the house. The pug ran around trying to stay at least 1 meter from the puppy. And everyone enjoyed the rest of the afternoon trying to decided on a name for the new puppy. We finally settled on “Surf”…although X preferred “blue beard” or “bicycle.” Before dinner we took the dogs for a walk then at home they both had a bath together. Everyone is tired now and sleeping…I think I will do the same!