Mill Creek Canyon: Dog Lake

I don’t even know if I can call this weekend a weekend. I worked a lot of it. For my job, we had a possible corresponding author (if this thing ever gets published—fingers crossed eventually) in town, so we collected results for our study over a four-day span. Unfortunately, two of those days, since this person has a real job, too, were over the weekends. So, as soon as I got home on Friday night, my wonderful husband had dinner waiting for me, and then we decided to go on a hike. We’re crazy, I know. But, it was great. We love this particular canyon because on odd-numbered days, you can have your dog off leash, which Honey absolutely loves. She runs into other dogs and ends up trying to run off with other people that have dogs (don’t worry—we don’t let her run far, but she does enjoy running with other dogs) and has the happiest “smile” on her face, wagging all the time. :) It was a six-mile total, out and back, hike, and the first three miles are ALL uphill. It almost killed me because I am still not very good with just uphill, but I have to say, I am getting much better, and my legs are starting to look toned. So I don’t mind them as much anymore. I didn’t get home until around 5:30, and then we ate and got ready to go. It’s about a thirty minute drive to Mill Creek Canyon, so we knew we were going to be coming back down from Dog Lake at night, and we definitely needed flashlights. Eventually we should get headlamps since this is the second hike we’ve done lately that’s required us to have flashlights to see. Anyway, once we reached Dog Lake (just as the name sounds—a lake for dogs to play :)), Honey was in heaven. There were a few other dogs her size, and they all went crazy running and jumping into the lake. She and another dog even fetched a stick and brought it back together, sharing it by each biting on to a side. It was hilarious.  She is a water LOVER. She didn’t used to be according to my husband, but now, once you give her the opportunity to be in water, she doesn’t want to get out for anything.

It was a beautiful, evening hike. You could barely see it as you climbed the mountain, but the sun setting had just a perfect glow over the canyon. A nice group of people asked us to take their photo, so we asked them to do the same after. :)

Dog Lake!

Even the climb back down wasn’t bad in the dark. It was actually a lot of fun. :)

Since I had to go back to work around 10 the next morning, we decided to get up and go biking because we had just bought a brand, new bike on sale this past week for me, so I could ride with the husband finally. :) I LOVE it. I’m a big fan of running but not a big fan of running in this heat. My dog doesn’t exactly appreciate me dragging her along while running when it’s this hot either. Unfortunately, though, the biking situation means leaving her at home until we figure out a better way for her to run alongside, but we are loving biking together just the two of us for now. We rode both Saturday and Sunday morning. It’s been so nice to be so active together since moving here. People are much more active here than they are back where I’m from, so there are always people out and about, walking, running, biking, hiking. We’re all for that. :)

Well, it’s back to the work grind. Obviously, I have it rough. ;) just kidding. Hope you are having a fantastic week!