dash's first backpacking trip

last weekend, nicole and i brought dash up on his very first overnight backpacking & overnight camping trip. we headed a few thousand feet above vail, colorado to pitkin lake (above 11,000 feet) in search of snow (it was christmas in july :), alpine cooking, some wild trout, bountiful flowers, backcountry cooking with beef stroganoff, and marmot families. we found them all!

here’s proof that dogs know the best drinking water there is.... straight from the glacial source a few hundred feet away!


nose lickin’ good:


our family summer self-portrait:


gummi bears make for yummy snacks and are easy attention getters for trail food for a particular viszla named ‘dash‘:


a quick snap of the moutain meadows up to vail’s pitkin lake.


hmmm, thinking big dog thoughts on mountain top?


meandering alpine streams were such a cool thing to watch and listen to... all the technological stress seems to melt away!


typical landscape shot with dash around:


yet another ‘dash-ruined’ shot of a lake reflection... in a good way :)


a glimmer of warmth of a mountain sunset cast a nice backdrop of these douglass fir trees growing along side a larger bush. they almost look naturally ‘bonsaied’22:


perfecto!


our humble night’s abode (nicole popped the flash inside the tent for effect :)


as the cherry on top, and worth a few laughs, here’s dash experiencing wild trout for the very first time, along with his youtube debut!