Date:
July
29, 2006
Participants:
Author and Matt
Distance:
Est. 5km
Elevation
Gain:
Est. 650m
Maximum
Elevation:
Est. 2300m
Elapsed
Time:
Est. 4:00
Published
Routes:
Daffern
Published
Rating:
Hike
Difficulty
- Endurance:
2.5
Difficulty
- Technical:
2.5 (our [off]-route, 3 in spots)
Chihuahua madness! It was a hot day and friends were
in town visiting with their Chihuahua Otto. So instead of a more rugged trip
we decided to hit an easy hike (relatively speaking) and climb an unmanned in and around the north fork of Upper Canyon Creek
as described in Daffern’s trail guide [Vol. 2 #331]. Opting to only take
one of my dogs to join Otto, Matt and I, I picked Zoe, my younger fawn coated Chi. Karlie,
my other dog, a black coated Chi, unfortunately stayed at home but got to visit the dog park later that day.
We decided
to just wing it and didn’t check out the route at all, so (of course) we ended up getting into some very loose 3rd
class terrain in which Matt bailed and slid down about 20 feet and I almost knocked Zoe off a semi-exposed section due to
rock fall. Needless to say we bagged our dogs and got the heck outta there pretty
quick. No place for little dogs! Although
I am sure that the dogs are probably a heck of a lot more sure footed than either of the two clowns that were leading them
around that day.
Zoe, who
has been on a number of hikes with me (Pigeon Mtn., Barrier Lake L/O, Raspberry Ridge etc.) would probably have gone on to the summit but Otto wasn’t digging it due to the wind and heat so we turned
around within sight of our destination.
BTW, I
know two dudes and a pack of Chi's may look a little strange.... errrr (cough) Matt and I are both married, LOL.
