my dog got porked

or whatever you want to call it when your dog gets nailed by a porcupine.  Wow, that was a lot of needles. 

I also learned it's good to have as much hair as a golden retriever has cause most of the needles didn't penetrate very far.  Finally all the fur comes in handy.

I have decided to up my hiking a bit---crowds are down and it's nice and cool in the morning, the light is great, weather clear and there are still some wild flowers.

Sunday I hiked to American lake---Tuesday I went a ways down lincoln creek and hiked up to grizzly lake.  Both mornings I hit the trail around 8 am-- on the way up to American lake I saw 1 other person, and shared the lake with 7 women from Basalt.  On the way down I must have passed over 60 people heading up---kinda a pain for my walking mediation. 

During my hike up to grizzly lake I saw no one.  At the lake I saw no one.  Only when I was 2/3rds of the way down did I run into anyone ---and the total on the descent was 3 parties of two people.  Yes getting to the grizzly lake trail head is a pain, but with all the G-wagons in town I figured more people would make that climb (although I am thrilled that they don't).

It's interesting how few people go a little further off the beaten path.  I saw this hughly in the tetons and Yellowstone where heading 1/2 mile to 1 mile off 'the beaten path' left you 1000s of acres to yourself.

I also suspect people like to do the 'hard stuff' to get bragging rights.  American lake is rated strenuous, while Grizz is rated moderate.  And people know about American so it means something to them while Grizzly is less well known.  Interestingly, Grizzly starts out at around 10.6k feet puting the trail head about 600 ft under the peak of Ajax---and the lake is at about 12.6k so you do get a bit of elevation challenge.  And there are the porcupines.  I don't want to sit in judgement so I won't, but just know if you want to explore a little and care a little less about the name of what you climb there is a shit ton of great stuff you can have all to yourself.

Couple of pics and video of neighbors dog chasing a bear cub (very small dog and small bear--where is momma bear?)

yup I might have swum naked and no one would know cause I can see for miles and miles (Yes I was listening to the Who and shedding clothes)

now about that dog and bear