Mineral Point

At the Ranger’s Station I received a great packet full of different trails in the area. I decided to try an easy 4 mile hike with Buck. I can barely remember the last time I went hiking, and I was not sure how Buck would behave on the trails. I set out for Sagle, which is about 5 miles south of Sandpoint. Between the winding back-roads, my driving, and the poor shocks in the back of my car Buck got carsick. I did not realize this until we got to the trail head (after being lost for about 20 minutes), but I do remember at some point during the drive wondering why this part of the county smelled like dog food. Thankfully, I have a blanket on the backseat for him and it was easily cleaned up.

While on the trail I was constantly wondering how to describe what it was like to hike with Buck. The best analogy I came up with was a car. The dog simply has no cruise control. He is one of those cars that trails behind you, but does not pass you. If you move to let him pass, he cruises by, but then slows down to a crawl, or better yet, stops completely. I do not know how many times I ran into him, or he stepped on the back of my sandals. The positive side to it all was that I could let him off leash, and he stayed close by.

Visually, the trail was stunning. I kept coming around corners to see a view of Lake Pend Oreille stretching before the Monarch Mountains (I think). The trail led us to Garfield Bay and a very sparsely populated stone beach. There were only four other people that I spotted. The water was crystal clear, and refreshingly cool. Buck was in heaven. There were not a lot of waves and as a result he was much more comfortable going in the water. I started throwing him his ball, but he kept bringing it back to me (like a good boy!), but then he would shake his coat right next to me. I started throwing sticks and driftwood which lead him to create a little stock pile behind me as I kept grabbing new ones to throw.

On the hike back Buck had a surge of energy from cooling off in the water and was a much better hiking partner. He ran ahead, stopped, ran back to me, ran ahead, stopped and waited for me, ran behind me, and ran ahead of me the whole way back to the trail head. Good thing was that if I called him to me, he gladly came. Overall it was a good trip. No pain for me, Buck behaved, and some gorgeous pictures. I am going to miss this once works starts!