Going with the flow

Kiwi has been itching something fierce to get back on some trails. It has been almost a month since her last foray of fun into the forest wilderness. To get back into the groove, Kiwi selected a short hike of under eight miles. Relatively short, but very steep. Mount Rose was the destination. Pretty close to Mount Ellinor where Kiwi encountered the Mountain Goats, up close.

So the Mercedes was gassed up and even sporting a new set of tires. Away we go, back on the trail again. Wait a tic. Whoa, what's that? Why is the road closed? Turns out there was some recent fire activity in the area we wanted to hike, so the folks at the ONF wisely stopped traffic into the affected area. Dang, have to turn around.

So we head out of the wilderness and stopped by the Hoodsport Ranger station to speak with our friend Penny for the latest news. Kiwi dropped off some paw-graphed photos of her many hikes for Penny. Penny has started a photo album, from Kiwi's first pictures, for all people stopping at the ranger station. And the album continues to grow as other folk enjoying the Northwest share their adventures and photos.

So we jumped back in and hit the road, daylights a wastin. Drive, great scenery, more driving.Drive, bark, bark, bark! Whoa, good eyes Kiwi. Yep, them are cows, mooooooo. :-)We're getting close to our turn off to go hike Calypso Falls and Mike needs a drink. I go to confirm directions and am told that the road has been washed out! Walking to the trailhead would add an extra five miles, one way. :-( Dang, dang. What do we do, where to we go? AH! Who needs a map, barks Kiwi. Thats the spirit girl! We'll just drive and find spots for ourselves to explore and have fun. We can do it.

Hey that looks nice. First place we come to is the Dosewallips State Park. Enough driving and talking dad, hurry up and lemme out, girls gotta go.

The Dosewallip River finishes its journey to the Puget Sound in a slow gentle manner. The shallow, clear water allowed us to see migrating salmon as they swam their way upstream to spawn. Kiwi got her sniffs in, but was not allowed to do more.So with no hesitation, Kiwi goes exploring. Nose to ground, over hill and log. Oh this place is great dad. Splish splash, what was that? Several times when Kiwi came close to the salmon, they would swim violently away, stirring up the water and startling her. But no issues, she never tried to "herd" them. Hmmm, that would be interesting to try, herding fish. We'll just wait till the AKC developes some rules first. LOL

Hey dad, look at meee, burbl, glurglel, glurg. Yes sweetheart, you have to swim when the water is deeper than you are tall. :-)So Kiwi and I explored the park, going up and down the bank, getting plenty wet and having lots of fun. On our way back to the Mercedes, we ran into a fellow outdoorsman with his ACD :-) Kaylee is a thirteen year lady who sight has left her. You can notice in the video when the stick is thrown, she doen't react till it hits ground, making a sound for her to focus on. She was a sweet girl and the two redheads had no issues with each other as they enjoyed the slow afternoon.

Video part one

Ok pop, lets see some more. How about some forest like we usually do? Sure Kiwi, we'll see what we can find. Uh, dad, can you stop with the 70's on the iPod? Us young girls are more hip and sophisticated than you. ;-P

Hey good choice old man, look at all the green. This seems more like normal. We stopped at another Park, this one being Falls View. However, the "Falls" looked like they were being supplied by a kitchen faucet. Hardly anything was trickling down. Oh well, we're here to go explore, lets hit the trail. :-)


Hey this place is nice dad, snap some pics.



And one of me over here. Didja get my good side? :-)

This was a short hike, had to be under two miles roundtrip. Nice green canopy, lush verdant ferns along the trail, and the pristine, sparkling water of the Little Quilcene River next to us providing the sensous sounds of running water.

B E A UTIFUL
Video part two

So when life hands you lemons, make lemonade. Or as Kiwi summed up, we don't have to have a destination dad, as long as we enjoy going with the flow.