Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed (Pennington, NJ)

The wevver peeples is saying this weekend is supposed to be a total washout wif FIVE inches of rains! They sayed if'n that woz snow, it would be 40 inches of snow! But it has been warm so we will just has floods. That means no hikings this weekend. But mom has some use-or-or-lose-it vakashun days she has to take so she taked today off werk so we could get a hiking in. We hiked 7.3 miles at the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed today.

As you can see by this furst pikshur, which woz akshually taken at the end of the hike, it looks like this place alreddy gotted flooded by the melting snows! See how muddy the trails is?

Mom and I woz full of muds!



But we seened some kewl things.

The Hobbit Tree



The Tree Hit By Lightning



The Stony Brook



The Pond

These geeses woz not skeered of me like they usually is, even tho I not bother them. Peeples must as been feeding them coz they followed mom all around the pond mooching for noms. We did not has any noms for them but iz not good to give wildlifes noms anyways coz they should not come so close to dogs and peeples. That be very dangrus.

We heared a lowd noise and big splash just as mom had turned her camera off. It woz two swans landing in the pond! The one time mom should has had her camera on and she missed it!


But mom did capture this shot of a hawk watching us from way up in the tree. I dinnot knows her camera could reach that far. He woz pritty high up.


Then in the middle of nowheres, this white chair. Interesting.


So when we gotted back to the car, mom felt something stinging ahind her knee. She pulled hers pants leg up and OMD! You will never believe wot she founded. AN ICKY TICKY! UGH! He woz awake from hims winter hibernashuns and he wanted some noms!

Mom stucked him in her water bottle coz she did not want to throw him down and has him jump back up on one of us. When we gotted home mom flushed him down the hooman litter box. Mom had not put anything on me for ticks coz she not want to put chemicals on me when it is not necessary in the winter time. But I woz all muddy and needed a baf! You cannot put Frontline on for 48 hours after a baf coz it has to do distribushuns thru the skin oils and shampoo takes the oils away. We is not using Frontline any more coz it is not werking very well now so we changed to K9 Advantix wot is supposed to werk better for ticks.

So when we gotted home mom hosed off only my muddy legs and belleh (this is not near as bad as a baf)


Then I gotted towel dried


Then mom called the K9 Advantix peeples to see how long to wait afore putting K9 Advantix on me. The K9 Advantix laydee tolded mom even if'n I had a full baf wif shampoo, as long as I woz towel dried she could put it on me rite away. Well, thank goodness mom did not call them afore hosing me off! Dodged that baf bullet!

Then we checked our mails.

I gotted a thank you card from Buttons for the toy I sented her. (Mom snucked that piggy kostoom in the box.) Buttons card say: My five favorite words: Wanna play with a TOY! Yup, that be our Buttons BOL! Then, can you believe mom akshually won something on Twitter. Mom never wins anything. She did a contesty wot @marcalsmallstep woz hasing. They take the paper wot peeples puts out at the curb for recycling and makes udder paper stuff out of it like TP, napkins, tishoos, paper towels. The nice peeples at Marcal sented mom koopons for free stuffs. Thank you Marcal and thank you for saving so many trees so they is there for our wildlife furends and for hiking.

My Hiking Wardrobe

A lot of peeples has been asking about wot I wear for hiking and why I wear it so I figgered I should do a bloggie about it (and mebbe launch my modeling career?). Sometimes peeples is just curious and udder times they is looking for something similar for they dog but is not shore wot to get or where. So we has been experimentating to see wot we likes the bestest and we will shares our reviews wif you! The name of each item has a linkie wot you can click wot takes you to the web site.

First of all, mom decided to get everything in no-huntin-me orange so I can wear it whether it is hunting season or not - that way we does not has to decide wot color to wear, any color I has will werk for any occashun. Dogs and peeples should always wear no-huntin-me orange during hunting season no matter where you hike coz it is not always clear where hunting boundaries is and we no wants to get shot ded. Besides, orange is my color, no? And when I is off leash, mom can always see me easily coz the orange stands out when I blend in wif the rawks and stuff.

THE MENDOTA CANINE FIELD JACKET

This jacket is akshually made for huntin dogs. It has insulashuns to keep you warm and nifty pawkets on the sides. Mom buyed it online from dogsupplies.com but they does not has it listed any mores. It costed $42.95 plus $6.99 shipping. Mom emailed the Mendota company peeples asking if'n it could be washed in the washing machine but they never answered her. She washed it anyways and it comed out fine but the pawkets is starting to fray a little. I wear this when it is rilly cold outside, unner 30 degrees during the day. But if'n I axidentally goes in the water with it on, it gets very heaby coz it soaks up the waters in the insulashuns so you has to be rilly careful not to go in the waters.

THE RUFFWEAR TRACK JACKET

We lub this one coz it is very lightweight, washes beeootifully, is grate for warmer days, but it has no pawkets to carry stuff in. Mom buyed it in the Eastern Mountain Sports retail store when they was hasing a sale. It woz regular $29.95, on sale for $23.95. We think this is a very good choice if pawkets is not impawtant for you.

THE WOLF PACKS SADDLEBAG

This is my nooest one. Mom was looking for something lighter for warmer wevvers wif pawkets so she found this saddlebag. She liked it because it fitted over my shoulders where most udder backpacks fit lower, more over the back and that is not good. At first we woz not happy wif it at all because it kept sliding over to one side of me and woz very annoying. So for this last hike mom put some diaper pins (to hold the pawkets to the strap, not on me) where she thought it mite need sewing to be more stable and that werked beautifully. So she has to take it to the shoo repair shop or dry cleaner where they does alterashuns to sew it coz it be too thick for hers sewing machine and mite make it brokened. This one costed $47.00 with $8.50 shipping. It says hand wash and line dry but we has not washed it yet.

So then we is asked wot I carry in my nifty pawkets. Well I can tell you, it be nothing of high impawtance coz if'n I furget to take my backpack off and go for a swim, well, I don't think I need to draw you a pikshur, BOL. But this is wot I carry:

SILICON TRAVEL BOWL

Even tho I is a large dog, mom gotted me the 1 cup size for little dogs. All I has to be able to do is stick my tong in for a drink and it has to be small for carrying around so 1 cup is all I need. It folds completely flat and slides right into my pawket. Mom buyed it at Dogtoys.com
and it costed $7.99 but we gotted some toys and treats too so I dunno wot the shipping woz. We has used some udder types of bowls for my waters for hiking but we lub this one the bestest and can't imagine there would be anything better. It washes nicely in the dishwasher, too.

PLATYPUS SPORT BOTTLE

Mom does not like anything plastic coz it be so bad for the environment so she tries to avoid it. Her water bottles is Kleen Kanteens but that would not werk for me so mine had to be plastic. The Platypus is BPA free so I not gets poisoned. I need to has collapsibul water bottles so mom can squoosh the air out as I is using up the waters. If'n there is air in the bottle wif the water, then it sloshes and I cannot hear mom. One time she thought I had gone def or woz misbehaving when she figgered out I woz not listening coz I could not hear her wif the water sloshing. Now that we has the Platypus I can hear mom's commands and I has to hear them to obey them, rite? We gotted the .5 liter sizes (2 of them, one for each pawket so I is ebenly weighted) at Appalachian Ski & Outdoors for $6.95 each plus $6.95 shipping. Mom looked and cannot find where they has the .5 liter any mores so they must not has them. I remember they woz hard for mom to find in the small size but bigger would be to heaby for me to carry. I is no spring chickun no more, you knows.

Golly, I is a costly, high maintenance hiking dog, no?

Monmouth Battlefield State Park (Manalapan, NJ)

We had beeootiful spring wevvers today with sunbeams and 54 degrees so we hiked at Monmouth Battlefield State Park for 9.3 miles.


When we gotted there the park woz still closed but they had a few parking spots outside the gate so we parked there and walked in. Mom letted me run in the street coz cars could not get in. That woz the first time in my life I has been allowed to run up the middle of a street!


Then there woz this statue of this guy from the old days when they had the Revolushunary War here.


Then we had to cross a bridge. I woz OK wif it even wif my bad eggsperience where I falled into the waters coz this woz a rilly nice bridge and I could tell it woz very safe for me to walk on.


On the udder side of the bridge we camed to the farms. All of these farms and fields is where the Revolushunary War woz where peeples put the bitey on each udder. Lots of peeples woz maded ded here long time ago. This is wot it looked like back then:

Now it is pritty and peaceful.





If'n I woz a yungun, I would has runned like the wind in these fields. These rilly is farms where they still grow froots and vegetabuls but they let peeples hike there. And when they has froots and vegetabuls when it is not winter time, you can buy them while you is there hiking.

We seened lots of hawks flying over our heds while we woz there.


And there is these signs all over the place wot tells you wot happened when they was hasing the war here.


This is the Craig House and it is rilly old. This house woz here while they woz doing the Revolushun War. A fambly wif three chilluns lived in it back then.

Can you imagine living in a house with cannons booming outside? Skeery.

Then as we woz leaving the farms and heading back to go into the woods, we seened this in the muds:

OMD! Is it Bigfoot or woz a hooman walking through the snows and muds wif no shoos on?

So then we hiked some trails through the woods...


There woz still lots of snows in some places in the woods. And I found a giant snowball somebody had maded:


Mom had just read the udder day about skunk cabbage and that it be the furst plant to come up in the spring. Ta da! Mom founded skunk cabbage popping up out of the ground! I hopes that means spring is offishully here.

Wharton State Forest (Atsion, NJ)

We hiked at Wharton State Forest afore eggsept for it woz at the udder end at Batsto. This time we hiked at Atsion for 10 miles so we has now done all the trails in that park. So we is driving along, mom gets off the turnpikes and pulls into a Wendy's. Then she makes a call on her cell phone. A few minits later, SURPRISE! My furrend from Furginia on Twitter @Yoda_the_dog, his mom who is @VAStateParks pulls up! Yoda woz not wif her coz she had been in Noo York City for Twitter's ShortyAwards. (Click here to read Yoda's mom's state park bloggie wot eggsplains wot the ShortyAwards is.) So here we all metted in Wendy's pawking lot while Yoda's mom woz driving back to Furginia and we woz headed to hikings!

That be mom on the left (she getting pritty good with that timer thingie on the camera), then me, then Yoda's mom - I be sitting on hers shoo and putting my furs on her black pants to send Yoda a message.

Then, can you believe the nerves of them - I should call PETA. They putted me back in the car, lefted me all alone and wented into Wendy's!


They woz not in there very long and they comed back wif coffees. But then they satted in the car and you how moms is, "Yak, yak, yak, yak..." I thought we woz going hiking?!?!?!

I woz somewhat annoyed so I pulled down my seat cover to make myself more comfy and gotted hairs all over the back seat of mom's car while I gibbed her the ebil eye. We sayed good-bye to Yoda's mom and I gibbed her a gifty to gib to Yoda from me.

So then we gotted to the hikings and it woz very nice in the pine forests. Nice and peaceful and soft cushunny pine needles unner my paws, and almost all of the snows woz melted away. It woz not muddy at all coz of the sand wif pine needles atop on the trails.



This is the Mullica River and you mite be saying "Ewwww, that looks doity!" The waters is colored like tea coz it has something to do wif iron in the waters.



Does you knows of a dog named Libby wot mite has losted her collah?


And mebbe hers leash?


By the Mullica River peeples can drive up the sand road wot the hiking trail crosses over in they cars to put canoos in the waters. That appears to be where the litterbugs hang out too and OMD, does they drink lots of beers. Mom picked up THIRTEEN beer cans!

(PFEEWWW that beer is stinkee!)

So here mom is carrying the bag wif beer cans in it like this...

...when we runned into a man and laydee hiking wif their dog. The man looked at the pink bag in mom's hand and sayed to mom, "Thank you for cleaning up. That is really nice of you." I heabed a big sigh of relief coz I thoughted the man woz going to think mom dranked all of those beers! (Our car did smell like a brewery when we gotted home. Now our recycling can smells like a brewery.)

So coz we gotted a late start with hikings, the sun woz just starting to go down as we gotted back to our car.


We gotted back just in time. It would has been skeery in the woods in the dark. But mom does has a flashlight and a blinky ball for me in case that ever does happen by axident.

Then when we gotted back home, Yoda's mom had gotted back home to Furginia and gibbed Yoda hims present from me.


Yoda is going to be writing his bloggie about his noo toy tomorrow so check back here and I post the linkie for you, k? (HERE IT IS, THE LINKIE TO YODA'S BLOGGIE ABOUT HIMS NOO TOY! BOL, BOL, BOL!) Glad you be liking your noo toy, Yoda! And mom and I hadded a grate time meeting your mom!

Some answers to the kewstshuns in the comments:
Yoda's toy - that be a bungee gecko wot stretches rilly long so you can play tug-o-wars. There be two squeakers in it but not lots of stuffins coz Yoda rips the stuffins out of hims toys. It's OK if'n he does that coz that is wot toys is for but mebbe he can enjoy it a little longer afore he makes it ded.
My noo backpack - mom wanted me to has a summer backpack wif pawkets so I can halp carry some stuff. She gotted it in orange so we can still use is on warmer days during hunting season coz my no-hunting-me vest has insulashuns and be too hawt in the warm wevver. We does not like this backpack much tho coz it keeps shifting so mom is going to try to make some modificashuns coz I don't think we can return it wif my furs all over it. Deer hunting season be over now but there is goose hunting coming up I think and we be on the waters lots so can't hurt to has my hiking wardrobe in orange.