[BlameTheDogz]

Hey now, Looking for new summits with trails or softer bootpaths to hit with the 6.5 month old pup. His longest day so far is about 14 miles and 4600 ft vert- with nice rests! Trying to avoid rocky rooty areas and scrambles where he would want to jump from higher rocks. Hannegan Peak, for example, was a great recommendation- thanks Drinky Crow! Feel free to PM me if you want to keep your fave spots on the DL. And, I know, I need to post more reports and make a new avatar with both dogz. Thanks all! Irie

[joker]

Iron Peak in the Teanaway. Mount Townsend on the Peninsula. Beckler Peak. Granite Mountain (I90). I think Hidden Lakes Peak pretty much fits (maybe note "soft" but mostly pretty graded, except for some rocky scramble at the very top which might mean either missing the top or doing some "dog aid"). Not a peak but the Heather/Maple Pass loop feels pretty parklike and is mostly cush trail (touches the boundary of the park but I've had a NPS person tell me on the phone that taking dogs on that hike is OK, and a hiker on that hike who was playing self appointed junior safety patrol officer swear I was breaking the rules despite my telling them I'd checked with the park ). Rock Mtn from the non-highway side (snowy creek or some such name). Surprise Peak and Bare Mtn both have some rockiness to the trails and Bare has one potential creek crossing problem (not hard for any dog I've take on it but if a dog is new to creeks it could be interesting), but no big rock hopping - just some rocky tread. Our gimpy (hip and knee issues since he was young) old solid hiker dog died in July so I've been going the other way, getting back to steep, rough trails like Guye/Snoqualmie, Thunder Mtn Lakes, etc., but we had years of seeking not-to-steep and reasonably smooth trails as he was just too much fun to have along.

Hurry up Yanna! Iron Peak, Teanaway

[BlameTheDogz]

Joker, Thanks for the suggestions. I always appreciate your kind and considerate input. Sorry to hear about your companion. Great minds must think alike in that I've already taken the pup to Surprise, Rock, and Beckler, and am going to take him to Granite in the next few weeks (always with Dog1 as well). Saving Maple Pass loop for fall and to combine with something else as it is so far. Forgot about Townsend, Bare, and Iron- good calls! I think I've hiked most of the better-known dog-friendly summit trails so it's getting hard to find new ground. Might have to head south and to Olympics. Soon come we will be back to more difficult terrain, and maybe possibly hopefully playing in the snow this winter ... Cheers!

[joker]

Thanks for the condolences - we're of course missing him terribly. He was a great companion. A few more thoughts up off 542: Skyline Divide with wandering as far out the ridge as you see fit - but at least as far as the high point where the ridge turns hard left toward Chowder Ridge, where you get views out to salt water; Excelsior from Canyon Creek Road with bonus wandering out along the ridge if that's too short for y'all; Yellow Aster Butte to at least the false summit which has steep but not too rough trail at the end but otherwise highway (the true summit has a bit of rough/steep/scrambly at the end). I'd love to see a compile of what you come up with - I'm sure that at some point we'll have either a young or an old dog (or we'll get another dog who we discover has some mobility issues) for whom such a list would be quite helpful!

[mike]

Yellow Aster Butte

Dock Butte

Easy Pass

Cutthroat Pass

Excelsior

Lk Ann

Ptarmigan

Sauk

Skyline

Upper Anderson

Sibley Ck Pass

[BlameTheDogz]

Went up Benchmark for the first time yesterday. No summit views due to cloud cover, but nice soft terrain throughout. A bit long and with undulations, but never too steep. Beautiful area. Not many prime berries remaining, but just up the summit bootpath past the campsite is a great stash. Cheers!

[altersego]

Get outta here, mike. This one is adorable!

[wolffie]

I'd think it would be impossible to overwalk a puppy, but... Our breeder, knowing I'm a hiker, was quite firm with me: "No big physical challenges until 1 year old", the concern being growth-plate injuries before the long bones fuse, which can lead to deformed legs. This concern may be greater with corgis (the dwarfing gene perhaps makes the cartilage growth plates more fragile?), but that's just conjecture. I'd avoid tangled undergrowth and such; I think Al tweaked his stifle once in heavy blowdown.

[joker]

Yes, I've wondered about how youngster pups handle long hike distances. I know taking them running is a no-no up to an age that I think depends at least in part on breed/size, but don't know about simply hiking, say, 10+ miles. We've always adopted adults so it's been less of an issue for our dogs, so I've never had this particular chat with a vet.

[kiliki]

When I've fostered puppies I've been told to keep exercise pretty mellow. I'm not sure there's good research on exactly how much exercise they should get at what age, but I wouldn't do long hikes because I've also been warned about growth plate injuries.

[joker]

That's more or less what I'd have guessed. Well worth dialing it back for a pup, even to the point of being a little more on the cautious side, to ensure they do well into their old age. If memory serves, you need to continue this longer for larger dogs - even up to 18 months or more.

[solohiker]

Mt Defiance is mostly soft if you use the old trail (the one following the creek, not the one up the talus) to Mason Lake rather than the new one. There's only a very short section of boulders across a branch of the creek. I've not been on it, but the new Mailbox trail is almost certainly soft on paws. There were no rocks to speak of on the old one until almost at the top. As far as distance - certainly erring on the side of caution is wise. That said, I gradually but consistently increased the distance I took my golden starting around 4 months to the point where she did some pretty long hikes in her first year. I didn't think to ask the vet if this would be OK. She lived to be 12 years, 2 months, died of cancer (saddest day of my life). Never had an issue with hip dysplasia, or any bone-structural issues. If it weren't for the tumor(s) in her brain, thyroid and heart she'd still be hiking today.

[Bedivere]

I boarded Clyde during the week I spent in the Pasayten this year. He was about 11 mos. old at the time and we covered a lot of miles with heavy packs and the off-trail terrain was pretty rough. If the dog is going to carry his own food (which my dogs do) and you're going out for a week and you have a big, young dog (like Clyde - 81 lbs and still growing at his last checkup a week before we left) then the pack is going to be fairly heavy just with the food alone (Jack eats half as much as Clyde and went on this trip and his food weighed about 9 lbs), so I felt it was best to leave him behind this year. He'll be ready next year when he's all done growing and has developed more muscle and better coordination. Vets have always told me not to stress dogs younger than a year too much. I took Clyde on his first backpacking trip when he was about 9 mos old. It was only three days so his pack was pretty light and it was all on-trail and relatively flat (Icicle Cr. up to Prospect Cr. then a day hike up to Lake Leland). He handled that fine but I wouldn't want to push him any harder at that age.

[BlameTheDogz]

[joker]

Thanks for sharing that, BTD