Max the Dog
Most trails in Massachusetts are dog friendly, but there are rules and common etiquette that must be followed. Safety for you, your dog and others are number one. Read the sign at the trail head for any rules about the property you are hiking, many areas require dogs to be leashed, this is to protect the wildlife, your pet, and other hikers. I think it is common courtesy to keep your dog leashed when hiking at even a slightly busy area. Not everyone likes dogs and not all dogs are friendly with other dogs these people and pets should be able to enjoy the trails too…
Prepping for a Safe Hike:
- Make sure your dog is up for the hike. Not all dogs are built for a 12 mile day hike.
- Keep weather in mind. Hot days are extra hard on dogs.
- Think about the wildlife in the area you will be hiking. Are there dangerous snakes? Maybe Bears or Mountain Lions.
- Learn about ticks and lyme disease.
- Bring plenty of fresh drinking water for your dog. Drinking out of streams or lakes has the risk of giardia and other bacteria that can cause disease.
- Your dog should wear an ID collar with not only your name and number but the vets name and number as well.
- During hunting season get an orange vest for your dog, they can be found at many hunting shops.
Hiking with a Dog Ediqutte:
- Always follow the rules at the trail head.
- Keep unleashed dogs within site and under strict voice command at all times. Strict voice command means the dog immediately heels when told, stays at heel, and refrains from barking.
- ALWAYS leash your dog when others are approaching. Not everyone likes dogs!
- Step to the side off the trail and allow others to pass.
- Keep dogs quite and from chasing wildlife.
- Clean up after your dog. Pack out the poop or bury it in a cathole.
Keeping everyone safe and happy on the trail is easy when you follow the rules.
You can find well made dog packs allowing your dog to carry water and food for itself. Be sure not to exceed 1/3 of the pooches body weight in the pack. You can also find all kinds of other outdoor products for your four legged friend like collapsible water bowls, booties, and even sun glasses.
Just Roughin' It
Just Roughin’ It is based out of Chandler, AZ and offers fully equipped backpacking tours or day hikes for all abilities and skill levels. They are the premier provider of adventure tour vacations in the southwest offering trips throughout Arizona, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon. You really get the opportunity to make your own trip with these guys, want a bare bones trip they can do that, want a personal chef and a mule to carry your gear they can arrange that…
All the info you need to plan and book a trip can be found at their website www.justroughinit.com. They also have a YouTube Channel, a Flicker stream with some amazing trip photos, or you can follow them on Twitter or Facebook for the latest news and deals…
They supply top quality gear (like: Osprey Backpacks, Big Agnes sleeping bags and pads, Mountain Hardwear tents, and even top of the line gear for kids too!), experienced guides for your trek and three tasty gourmet fully cooked on site meals a day. Look forward to munching on Southwest Breakfast Burritos, Chicken Xanadu, or Pesto Pasta with Pine Nuts before or after a day of hiking the beautiful southwest. All guides have at least 80 hours of Wilderness First Responder of equivalent (this means we are trained to handle all kinds of emergencies in remote settings), First aid and CPR training, and are Food Handlers Certified most of all they are knowledgeable and friendly. Safety is their number one concern!
Arizona trips include: Grand Canyon, Phoenix/ Scottsdale, Tucson/ Sky Islands, Superstition Mountains, Mogollon Rim, Lake Mead, and White Mountains. Utah trips include: Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, and Paria Canyon/ Buckskin Gulch. Other locations and custom trip info can be found on http://justroughinit.com.
Here is a sample itinerary for the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim 4 Day, North to South tour:
- Day 1 – We pick you up from your hotel and drive to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Once we arrive at the trailhead, we begin our 7-mile hike with a 4,000-foot elevation change to the Cottonwood Campground.
- Day 2 – We pack up and hike along Bright Angel Creek another 7 miles and 1,500 feet down to Bright Angel Camp. On the way, we drop our packs and do a side hike to Ribbon Falls, one of the most scenic areas along the North Kaibab Trail.
- Day 3 – We pack up and hike along Bright Angel Trail to Indian Garden. This is a 5-mile hike, ascending 1,200 feet. After we set up camp, we can take a side hike to Plateau Point for some beautiful views of the inner canyon and the Colorado River.
- Day 4 – We hike out of the canyon along Bright Angel Trail. This is a 4.5-mile hike with a 3,000 foot increase in elevation.
So Find Them On: - Facebook - YouTube - Flickr - Better Business Bereau – and have a great trip!!!
The first time I saw the Sweat GUTR Headband I thought it was a great idea, a gutter for your head. My self conscientiousness keep me from buying one… I felt I would look dorky at the gym or on the trail wearing it. I had the chance to try one out so here we go…
GUTR Sweatband
When I felt the headband I was surprised at how soft the PVC material is. It is super flexible and light weight, the side that is against your head is very smooth and if fitted properly will not leave any marks on your head after it is removed. It works by channeling the sweat away from your eyes to the sides of your face via the channel in the gutter. Fitting was easy, the sweatband comes with three elastic bands for sizing and velcro for fine fit adjustments. You want a snug fit, not tight, just enough not to move.
I used it on a couple 5 mile hikes in 90 degree plus weather and humid, this summer in New England was been brutal. It really works I don’t care if I look like a dork… No more burning eyes, no more trying to find a dry spot of shirt to wipe my eyes. Awesome! I have tried hats, bandannas, cloth headbands, they all make me feel hotter and I end up just taking them off… Not once have I felt like I needed to remove the GUTR. It is a great feeling to have sweat pouring down the sides of your face but not in your eyes. No matter how filthy it gets a simple wash in soap in water cleans it right up.
If you are a sweater like me I highly recommend the Sweat GUTR Headband, Husky Hiker seal of approval!
Even if you hate it Sweat GUTR will let you return it for a full refund as long as you let them know why… so don’t sweat it…
Photo by Gerry Gosselin
Guest post by Gerry Gosselin
Want to be a guest poster on HuskyHiker.com? E-mail me
Every hiker should have a compass right? Eventually I got around to picking one out, not because I felt I needed it, but because I’m a gadget whore and that itch needed to be scratched. A Suunto A-10 found it’s way into my possession for about $15 US. Then it sat in my bag for 2 years barely getting any use. I’m a novice day trip hiker who usually sticks to marked trails. Every now and then I get turned around but the areas I hike in Western MA don’t usually extend more than 10 miles in any direction before hitting a road. Getting truly lost was never a concern, only a minor nuisance.
This last Saturday June 12, 2010 I took a Compass, Map, Survival Course offered free by the State of Massachusetts. It’s a 10 hour course, half classroom and half in the field. The course was light on survival but very detailed on the map and compass work. Read more »
The grand prize winner will receive a trip for two to Chamonix, France and tickets to the famed The North Face Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc ultra-trail marathon this August. Twenty second place winners will take home a pair of Vibram FiveFingers footwear. The deadline is next Friday, June 18th and entry is simple: just visit www.gripyourworld.com, Vibram’s new website for outdoor enthusiasts, upload a photo (and share a story if you like!) and you’re entered to win.
Photo by: Darren Lone Fight
Guest post by Darren Lone Fight
Want to be a guest poster on HuskyHiker.com? E-mail me
Day Hiking, Multi-Day Hiking, and Weight
Getting outside and enjoying the outdoors is a great way to maintain and increase fitness levels, burn calories, and has the potential to be a very enjoyable hobby. Nevertheless, the enjoyment can be quickly lost when you’re lugging a pack, pouring sweat, and trying to remember why it is you’re on a trail in the first place. Lowering pack weight, then, becomes a very important component to maximizing your enjoyment of the outdoors and create a positive, healthy experience that you’ll want to repeat in the future. Hiking with a backpack falls very generally into two categories: day hiking and multi-day hiking.
Day hikers don’t need to carry such items as a tent or a sleeping bag, but the pack itself and whatever other supplies that are brought along with the hiker might weigh anywhere from 2-10+ pounds. While this weight is not negligible, it is nevertheless a significantly lighter weight than the average multi-day pack. This article will focus primarily on reducing weight in the larger packs of a multi-day hiker, but most of the general points made here can apply to a lesser degree to the day hiker as well.
For a multi-day hike, one has to carry many supplies for daily use. I’ll be speaking here of a weekend trip, since this is the kind of backpacking trip most of us are able to fit into our schedule (not to exclude the bearded and smelly Appalachian Trail thru-hikers and other multi-week and multi-month hikers). This means a half-day Friday, Saturday, and half-day Sunday (or roughly two full days of supplies). A Base-pack weight for a multi-day hike of this nature includes the “Big Three” of backpacking: the pack itself, sleeping system (sleeping pad/bag), and shelter system (tent, tarp, etc.).
The (Other) Things We Carry
On top of this base-pack, a backpacker will often carry: a first-aid kit, food, water, a compass, Read more »
With spring comes ticks… It seems to be worse and worse every year. On an average hike I can pick at least 3-4 ticks off me and if I have the dog with me double that off him. Ticks carry lyme disease and rocky mountain spotted fever. The risk of contacting lyme disease increases after 24-72 hours after the tick attaches. It can take 1-4 months for lyme symptoms to show up, symptoms are flu like. If you find an attached tick watch the site after removal for a few weeks for a rash, if a rash appears see your doctor. At least with pets you have the availability of Revolution, Advantage, Advantix, and the like. For us two legged folks we are not so lucky… We don’t have any magic topical drops to repel ticks. In this post I will go over some ways to help keep you tick free.
Read more »
Not much has been happening at huskyhiker.com as of late, but trust me I have been busy hiking and writing… I am working on a hiking guide book for Falcon Guides with a projected publish date of spring 2011. I have been having a great time on the trail and have learned quite a lot in the past month or so… I am going to try to post here as much as I can over the next couple months but look for tons of new hikes posted in the fall of this year. – See you on the trail!
A good loss this week. I am kind of surprised to see it too. Yesterday Was my fathers 60th birthday and I made a 100% homemade carrot cake. I made it Monday night and had a good amount of sampling of both the cake and frosting and then yesterday I had a good sized piece of cake. (birthday cake has no calories right?) So I had some lovely cake and lost weight to boot…
Starting Weight: 302.6 lbs
Last Weight: 295 lbs
Current Weight: 292 lbs
This Weeks Loss: 3 lbs
Total Loss: 10.6 lbs
6 gym days
0 miles hiked
Starting Weight: 302.6
Last Weight: 294.8
Current Weight: 295
This Weeks Gain: 0.2lbs
Total Loss: 7.6lbs
6 gym days
0 miles hiked
I must admit I am a little annoyed with my slight gain. I started back at the gym a few weeks ago and have still been eating pretty good and I can’t seem to loose. I have a feeling that after my body adjusts to the new exercise amount the weight will start coming off… Or at least I hope…
hiking, how to, pets | Husky Hiker - Jim Bradley | 
September 7, 2010 7:29 pm | 
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