Northwest Arkansas Hikes
It isn't all about adventure on two wheels. I mean, yeah, if it were up to me, there would always be two wheels involved, but the fluffbutts demand the occasional adventure focused solely on them. Narcissists.
The first (hot and humid AF) hike we did was over in Hobbs State Park. The trail was only open to foot traffic, so I let the dogs off their leashes and they had a blast running free through streams and jumping in piles of tick-infested leaves.
This would have been such a sweet flow trail.
Unfortunately for the beasts, they chose to roll in smelly dead things several times along the trail. That meant a trip to the self-service dog wash after the hike. As my clients used to say "if you commit the crime, you gotta do the time"
She is so svelte when she's wet!!
Here's the Garmin track for the hike: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/15365342721
The second hike was at Kessler Mountain Regional Park down in Fayetteville. These are pretty popular MTB trails when things are dried out, but it was WAY too wet for anything but feet & paws.
The parking lot was empty when we pulled in, and I was pissed when another car pulled in right after me. I mean, seriously, this was going to hamper my blatant rule-breaking by letting the girls run free! But then two mini-Aussies jumped out out of their Subaru and their human asked if my beasts were friendly. We chatted for a minute about the trail and then just started hiking together. (Have I mentioned how friendly people are here?) All four dogs got along so well - and the humans had lots of good conversation, too! The best part was meeting Sunday's twin.
Twinsies!
Kiva met her first turtle. (I didn't have the heart to tell her that her shelter name was "Turtle")
The trail was really pretty. And the best part about hiking in Arkansas is that the humans don't have to carry water for the beasts!
Garmin track for Kessler Mountain: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/15142635509
The final hike was at Devils Den State Park. Jeremy joined us for this one, and it was fun to see his reaction to how unexpectedly beautiful the terrain was. The rock formations and caves and streams and lush green trees were all so beautiful. Bonus that the fluffbutts got to be off-leash most of the time.
One of the highlights was the structure at the top of the Yellow Rock Trail. Built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s, it featured old-growth posts and beams and legit rock work. There was supposedly a view, but all I saw was a bunch of green trees (not that I have anything against green trees, its just that when you typically hike in Colorado and Utah, views here are .... um ....differently un-dramatic).
Here's the Garmin for the hike: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/15209068369