I really do not know were to begin this story since there are a number of events leading up to this point. I guess I will begin with the puppy, as that is probably the reason everything else began. Tina, my wife, wanted a dog. I was dragging my feet on the matter because we live in the city and really do not have a yard for a dog to run. She started getting serious looking at breeds and perusing the paper a dog. Then one day while sitting in my office when the phone rang. It was my wife calling to say something about a Rhodesian Ridgeback that she saw in the paper. Knowing that this breed was one step smaller than a horse I figured I had better get involved in this in hopes of getting a dog of a more manageable size.
It so happened that Steve, a person I work with, was in my office when my wife called. He heard the conversation and asked what was going on, at which time I explained the situation. He asked it we had considered an Australian Shepherd. I said no since I had never heard of the breed. He told me he has one and that they are very smart and of I size that I thought would be manageable. I spoke to my wife about it, she found a person with two puppies left from a litter, and we went to see the puppies on November 15, 2000. We found a beautiful red merle female that won our hearts and ended up bringing her home with us on the 18th. And this is how we ended up with Sophie. For those of you that have never heard of Australian Shepherds, they are a very intelligent breed of dog and full of energy. I also learned that she loves to walk. We walk about two miles every morning and three miles in the evening.
Well, this got me to thinking. It has been about 15 years since I have been backpacking. It was just one of those things, life got to busy, not enough time, etc. I decided to do some research into backpacking with dogs. This turned out to be a rather informative search into packs for dogs, how much can dogs carries, etc. I found a very good site about dog packs at Agile Pooch that was a great help and saved me a lot of time.
I ended up buying a Bonzai pack by Wolf Pack from Chinookwind Outfitters. I decided on the pack based on the Huber Hound Site and other sites I found that recommended it. Since we were just starting out and will only be going to two or three days for now, this size as just right. If I decide to take her out for a week, I will have to go back and look at a larger one for her. I also found an old closed-cell foam pad that I cut for a sleeping pad for her; well, she has to have something to sleep on. Now that her stuff is out of the way, I was on to restocking my stuff.
I had to get a new tent and I ended up getting a Eureka Mountain Pass 2XT two-person tent with fly and a new pair of Dunham Green Mountain Plus hiking boots from Campmor. I checked my pack, which is an old Wilderness Experience pack, and is still in usable condition. I also have an old Coleman Peak I stove that still works after all these years. Other than picking up a few minor miscellaneous items like water jug, food, and such, we have everything we need for our first foray into the woods.
I will be logging our hikes and putting the logs and other information and thoughts in links following this introduction. If you have had experience backpacking with a dog, I would like to hear from you. If you live in the Central Pennsylvania area and would consider planning a joint or group hike with your dog, drop me a line at cedmail@comcast.net. and maybe we can work something out.