Andrea is currently down in Mexico getting her visa and loan paperwork in line for Foothill College. So I've been "bach'in it" for the past couple weeks. We finally had a break in the rain today, so I dragged Moose on a hike up to Mission Peak in Fremont (ironically, he was the one doing most of the dragging once we got on the trail). Andrea and I had been on the Mission Peak trail before with Moose, but the weather was poor and we didn't make it to the top. It's basically a trail through an enormous cow pasture all the way to a peak at the top of the East side of Silicon Valley.
Dogs are allowed off-leash anywhere along the Mission Peak trail. Which left plenty of opportunity for one of Moose's favorite activities... eating cow crap! At the bottom, he was running around completely berserk because of being pent up due to rain, but we quickly knocked most of the wind out of his sails as we started up our 2,300 foot elevation-gain. A couple petted him somewhere about half-way up, and he thought that was a good time to sprint in 50' circles. The guy said something to the effect of "I knew labs were high-energy, but damn!". Damn indeed sir! Around that point, I stopped for a breather and took some pictures of the bay & valley.
The keen observer will probably notice several hang-gliders and para-gliders in these pictures. Well it turns out, there was a swarm of them all over today. They were launching from about 3/4 of the way up the trail and floating around all day. I counted 10 in the air at one point while snapping these pictures.
As we neared the top, the terrain got fairly harsh. The grade increased and the trail became a sort of hop-scotch over boulders. There was a herd of cattle grazing in this area, and Moose was captivated by them. I thought he would just like to go up and smell one... because that's sorta what he does to everything. Turned out he had a less tactful approach in mind. He started yapping at one of the calves... which, of course, pissed off the herd. 60 lb. lab vs. a gang of half-ton cows doesn't seem like a winning situation. I grabbed his choker and hurried him the hell away from the cows and all was well.
Once we got to the top, we sat around for a bit so I could catch my breath and take some pictures. The temperature seemed to drop 20 degrees up there (probably from the wind) so we didn't spend to much time on the peak.
While leaving the summit, I saw several hang-gliders practically buzzing the people on the top ridge. So I snapped a few pictures of them flying nearby. They were actually close enough that it was difficult to frame them on the camera, but I got a couple keepers. The last two are pictures of the hang-gliding camp (well below us at the time) and then people packing up their gliders back at the bottom of the trail.
After the hike, I was beat... not to mention hungry beyond comprehension. But Moose was filthy from running around in the mud and eating crap for the three hours we were on the trail. So I bathed him and to my amazement, he was still wired! His burst of energy was short-lived, however, and I was finally treated to some peace...
