Breaking in New Boots!

After hiking Little Rock Pond, an easy 4 mile round trip hike that's as flat as you're going to get in the Green Mountains, I realized that I needed new hiking boots. The ankle supports were shot and there wasn't really any padding left in the foot bed. I also questioned the integrity of the stitching along the sides. Before I left for Benin I knew that I wanted new boots but didn't want to invest a bunch of money on boots that were going to get Africa'd. This was a good choice, everything that I brought to Benin Africa'd in some way shape or form.

Along with my new boots I purchased water bottles and a new harness for my dog that wasn't going to strain him too much. I was going to go on Friday but the weather didn't really cooperate. I knew the trail was steep in parts and going down on the slick rocks wasn't my idea of a good time. Buster and I packed up and left today. It was real funny, when I got my boots on and my bag packed Buster knew what was going on and was real excited to go. He hoped right in my car and looked at me with the 'I can't wait! Lets go!' expression. I got to the trail and remember that it was pretty tough last time I did it but also reminded myself that I was in much better shape than I was last time (during college) believe it or not studying isn't an aerobic activity. I got to the trail head, looked at the topo map, found the direction I needed to go if I got lost, and then looked at the mileage. I read online that this trail was 1.5 miles up, making it a 3 mile trip in total. This is about how many miles I've been running/ walking everyday. When I looked at the trail head, a more reliable source than the internet, it stated that it was 3 miles up, totaling a 6 mile hike, oops. I knew that this wasn't going to be a problem for me, but I'd brought my little dog with me. I considered getting back in the car and heading over to white rocks or little rock pond, but he was pointed up the trail looking back at me with the expression that said 'hurry up, we've got a mountain to climb!' I figured that if he got tired only part way up we could go down from there. My dog pulled me all the way up the mountain. It was as if a constant helping hand was encouraging me. He had expended so much energy pulling me up the mountain that by the time we ate lunch and got back on the trail he didn't pull me back down the mountain. I wondered how he did it, a little dog dragging a person 4 or 5 times his weight up a mountain, without stopping. I asked my dad once why dogs can go so fast and he said 'it's because he's got two more legs that you do.' I think that this also applies in this situation.

We made it! safe and sound, and buster is now passed out next to me. I think that I can't bring him on a longer than 6/7 mile hike in the future. But for now that leaves quite a few left to do in Vermont!