Gone to the Dogs

I worked this morning running a training and orientation thing and by noon I was ready to escape work for the remainder of the day. We had an invitation from New Hampshire friends D & K to hike with them. Although I was loathe to miss even one opportunity to knock off another of the 60 hikes I was equally loathe to pass up an opportunity to visit a place that this couple - avid explorers themselves - had found and were willing to share. So we packed the dog, water and snacks and hied ourselves up a side road that led to trails in a watershed/recreation area - Massebec I believe. It was brisk, sunny and possessed of interesting terrain. Lakeside rocks, plenty of trees and some suntraps where early young trees were showing full fall colors. Just one downside - a big downside, dog owners who are perfectly fine flouting leash laws and ignoring the broadly posted reminders to that effect. I don't get it. Perfectly lovely people turn into entitled jerks when it comes to their dogs. Since our dog was the victim of mauling we're probably expected to be a little more sensitive to that fact, but even our dogless friends had enough when four pony sized dogs came racing up the trail. We managed another shorter visit to an Auduboun center nearby, leaving the dog in the car - since wildlife sanctuaries are not doggy places (they stress out the nesting birds) but alas, we were the only ones who got the memo. The dogs were off leash here too. Sigh. I like dogs, I mean REALLY LIKE dogs. I just don't like dog owners.

Fortunately, the conversation was convivial, the pasta cooked the way I like it and the night cloudless and starfilled, so we redeemed our good moods after all. Salud!