Im so excited! Me, Brad and Neo have a hiking trip planned next
Sunday. Nothing too exciting, just a moderatly difficult hike with some great views. I went today and bought a pack for Neo so he can carry his own food, and a new Kong harness instead of his no-pull one. This will be a first for Neo. I hiked a little when I was younger, but not much. Brad shouldnt have any problems at all. Is there any suggestions or tips I should know before we head out? I want to make sure we are prepared!

Edited: This is where we will be going...
http://www.lbl.org/

have you been following our hiking adventures this summer as well as eddy's and riley's?

have you been walking Neo with his new gear on as well as with some weight in it? we always practice/train with the packs on daily walks getting ready for the season and even during the season. please make sure you do not put to much weight in his pack. eddy has some great stickies at the start of the great outdoors. make sure you also have some kind of first aid kit with you as well just in case.
what pack did you get? do you have a packable water and food dish for him? if he can't carry all the water make sure you have room for it in your pack. pack food for him as well as high protein treats, i love the dog turkey/ duck jerky from costo.

for you and Brad did you go out and get new shoes? if so break them in. i pack more then i need but then again were out in the mountains where god know what can go wrong. i have a rain coat extra food (protein bars/ gels) always more water then i need as well as a G2 gateraid

and remember take lots of pictures and post your hike when you get back! my tracks is a fun android tracking app for your phone.

We are not planning on putting anything in his pack besides his lunch and a few snacks. Being his first time out, I def. do not want to overload him. I gt the outwardbound pack they have at petsmart. I know probolyy not the best, but it will have to do untill we go a few times and make sure this is for us. The water and other items will be carried in our packs. About the boots, me and Brad were kinda spatting over that lol. He actually has a few pair of good broke-in hiking boots that he wears at work. Me- I have never owned a pair of hiking boots, and he was trying to explain to me why I couldnt wear my tennis shoes! I wasnt having any part of it, he said something about broken ankles and junk like that....lol. I guess I shoud probolly get some soon and start wearing them. I have to wear ankle braces, and my concern is them fitting under the boots. I will def read the stickies on first aid kits and such. We will also pack that stuff in our bags. Thanks so much! Next Sunday will not come soon enough

you could get by on a good pair of trail runners and not full on boots unless your gonna be in wet areas and want a water proof boot. eddy and lindsay hike in trail runners and i use boots they got wet the other week and i did not

the pack from PS is ok we used it but did not hold up for to long. its good you have the harness to go under the pack as its easy to back out of it and you don't want to lose Neo! remember the poop bags as well!

oh and early starts to avoid the heat! and sunscreen.

Definitely want to reiterate that you should walk him in his gear empty a few times to get him used to it. BRING WATER for the pup and you. I keep a close eye on our pups hydration the whole time. Don't push him. Take a lot of breaks if he's not used to that much exercise. I think we pushed Appa a little too hard last time. I felt awful and carried his pack for him. With Appa being a puppy (and a dog in general) he wants to please us and not show any weakness so we try to be very mindful of his limits.

I definitely plan on carrying plenty of water, and food for all of us. Ill start tonight and walk him with his pack to get used to it so hopefully there are no issues on the trail. The trail we plan on taking is about 5 miles, with a few steep places. Plenty of breaks to enjoy the scenery planned as well. Jennifer, I actaily have two pairs of boots that I used to ride in. A pair of Ariats and a pair of Justin's. You think they could be sutiable, or should I go ahead and invest in a pair of hikers. Ill do some research on them
.

[quote="i<3neo" A pair of Ariats and a pair of Justin's. You think they could be sutiable, or should I go ahead and invest in a pair of hikers. Ill do some research on them
.[/quote]

i dont know those boots. i hike in these http://www.rei.com/product/780271/merrell-siren-waterproof-mid-leather-hiking-boots-womens

i really like them, Longs peak chewed them up but i returned them to rei and tried on another 5 diff boots and went back to these again.

http://www.rei.com/search?cat=4500217&cat=4501277&hist=cat%2C4500217%3AWomen%27s+Hiking+%2F+Backpacking+Boots^cat%2C4501277%3AWomen%27s+Hiking+Shoes
you could get away with any of these as well.
i like stuff from REI cause they take anything back if it does not work out.

Thanks for the links! Ill check them out. Brad said something about going to REI, till I started my "why cant i wear my tennis shoes rant. Hopefully I didn't make him mad and he will still take me lol.

Jill,
first off, I hope you guys have a great time! My brother used to go to Land Between the Lakes quite a bit with Boy Scouts, and always loved it. I'm going to go ahead and chime in on the boot thing, since I have way more experience with ankle injuries than I would care to. I would strongly recommend getting a pair of boots instead of trying to do regular shoes. I wear a brace on my bad ankle, and have no problems getting the boot on. Like Jenn, I have Merrell boots and I love them, and even if you don't have an REI or other camping store near you, you can get them at Academy Sports and some of the other sporting goods stores. Good luck!

I used to go to LBL many times a year and take the horses to the Wrangler camp, and camp and ride all weekend, but never been there hiking. We were actually looking to go to Galtinburg, and hike the Smokies, but they only allow dogs on two trails, and they are the two trails by the welcome center. Crappy! Did some more shoping today, me and Brad each got a backpack, picked up a first aid kit, and got me some hiking boots. We went to acadamy sports for my boots. I tried on a few different pair, including a pair of merrels, but none felt right. Brad brought over a pair and I put them on and loved them. They were a pair of Men's HiTechs, which were way more comfy than the womens boots I tried on. They are waterproof as well, which is a plus. Then we went to Outdoor World and picked up the packs and first aid kit. When we got home, we took Neo for a test drive with his new backpack. When we got home, Brad realized that the zipper fell off. We only went a mile and a half, and the zipper already fell off! WTF!!!!! Guess ill be making a trip back to petsmart in the orning. You get what you pay for! Anyways, pics from our shopping adventures....

I told you that pack wouldn't hold up the moment I saw it sillyhead!!!!! Since I was stalking the forum, does anyone have a good suggestion for a doggie pack! Money isn't really a concern because we intend to buy a quality product that will hold up well and last through the elements. I've checked a few out on REI's website, but not sure which one to get.

Besides that, I'm glad I finally talked Jill into the boots, bags, and other purchases. Neo definitely was comfortable wearing his outward hound bag that fell apart after a mild walk through town. He actually seemed to enjoy having his purpose for carrying something. We only had two water bottles in it, about 4 pounds total, and he did fine. He is in pretty good shape but I'm trying to get him to slow down and pace himself! He is true to his breed and wants to pull the entire 2 miles we walk him every night. But with the pack on plus the new harness, he kept a good pace.

Wow, I'm glad I haven't bought the Outward Hound pack. I was thinking about getting one because it was cheap and I wanted to get Ghost used to walking with one. We have one of our registries for the wedding at REI and have registered for the Ruffwear Palisades pack because that seems to have gotten the best reviews.

Jill, I'm glad you found boots! I hope you guys have a wonderful time hiking

Please don't buy the Outward Hound pack!!!! I guess if you are budget limited it would be the way to go, but as Jill stated, you get what you pay for! (my exact quote to her by the way). Neo wore his for literally 10 minutes before I noticed that the zipper on the bag had magically fallen off causing the bag to hang wide open. When we got home I looked at it thinking that maybe it just came unzipped!!! Nope, the entire zipper was missing from the closure straps. Hmmppfff!!!!

Yeah I was a little wary, but our vet had said it was good. We're not really budget limited, but since she's still growing I figured we'd just get a cheap one since she would likely grow out of it. There isn't really much in the way of hiking around here, but we plan on driving up into Alabama and Georgia when Ghost is a little older. That one is going to have to wait awhile regardless, now that my ankle is messed up again...

We have the ruffwear Palisades pack and I love it, issues we had with it were fixed by RW. We also have the older rei pack and like that as well, I see they have redesigned the rei pack to have a better harness atachment, worth looking at cheaper but will hold up to wear, if not rei takes everthing back!


Ur packs look good how much do they hold?

Throw some plain benadryl and a good helping of adhesive wrap in the kit. In all of our outings, those are the only things I've NEEDED to use a few times.

Looks like you two are going all out, heh. I really like the RW Approach packs I got, but the large is too big for the Husky and the sides are not holding up too well for what we do (the entire product line is made with a much lighter nylon, maybe for costs or weight or both). In fact, the newer ones I bought in March already look older than the three year old RW pack.

I also take a nice bomber for the summit/end point. That way I'm in a much better mood to have my ass dragged down rocks and scree by 300-something pounds of dog.

Oh and we love our convertable pants out here in CO. I don't think u have the temp shift as bad as we do so might not need them. And good smartwool socks. I have used dog booties on hikes if there is a pad cut on the paw. Of course u should find out if u enjoy hiking first befor going to deep in stuff. But with a sib its kind of hard not to enjoy it!

I actually had to get the meduim in the outward hound pack for it to fit, but really does no good when it doesnt hold up for 10 minutes! I found the lost zipper this morning in the driveway lol. I beleive Brad is going to order one from REI. I remember going horseback riding and packing "bombers" in the saddlebags, but I think ill pass this time around. Hopefully Neo will be to wore out too drag us back home.

Jennifer, our packs are really nice, I was suprised at how in expensive they were as well. Mine is a Kelty, it holds 2300 cubic inches, and Brad got a Acend, and it holds 3300 cubic inches. His has the straps on the bottom to hook sleeping bags and juk too. between the two of them, we only spent about 190$, and they seem like really good packs. Hopefully they hold up better than the dog pack!

Our temp shifts are not bad her at all, now not saying they cant vary buy 50 degrees day by day this time of year, but as far as from morning to afternoon to night, it really isnt bad at all.

Well Jennifer, thanks for the recommendation. I ended up with the palisades pack from REI. Tomorrow is our first hike, which is only about 6.5 miles.... I'm used to doing 12 miles in three hours carrying 70 pounds, so this should be a break. I intend on posting pics from our trip. I know Jill won't sleep tonight as she is soooo excited.

I sized the harness on Neo, and it fits very well. I think he was having an issue with the back "belly" strap, but after wearing it around the house for a while, I don't think he minds it. I'm going to load the saddlebags with his water, food, snacks and first aid kit when I walk him this evening and see how he does.

Hopefully we have a safe and wonderful trip... It is supposed to be gorgeous tomorrow. Any last minute suggestions, anyone?

Neo'sDaddy wrote:

Any last minute suggestions, anyone?

For when you are done hiking. Beer and ice in a cooler in the car. Beer for you and Jill ice for Neo.

Good idea! But Neo will have to drive home lol

OMG I think I have been ruined, lol. This was one of the worse experiences of my life. First, Neo whined the whoooole way there. Second, when we got there, it was only supposed to e in the mid 60's, and it was in the mid 80's. Neither me nor Brad knew where we were going, so we were both frustrated from trying to just find the trail. I wasnt counting on there being so many horseback riders there either. When we finally did get on the trail, we had to stop every 20 seconds and get off the trail to let the riders pass, cause Neo was trying to chase after them. He was soo worked up from the sights and smells, he was literally running in place the whole time. We made it about 10 minutes down the trail before we stopped because Neo looked ike he was abut to die from hypervenilation. His poor little brain couldnt handle everything that was going on. So that was a nice 5 hour round trip for 10 minutes of hiking. Wow, words just cant describe how much I was looking forward to this and how much I was dissapointed that we had to turn around and go home. First thing on to do list, Neo will learn how to walk on a leash in the heel position, if it kills me. I never realized how important that was untill the dog is in a situation to where I needed absolute control over him and I did not have it. Anyways, we WILL try again, after some training. I didnt spend all that money to give up! Cooler weather woud be nice as well. I got a few good pics, will upload them in a few.

aw sorry to hear your hiking trip went so badly hiking with nikki is probably one of my favorite activities!

Tuckered out on the ride home




Brad




Had to hold the water bowl so he would drink from it, poor puppy







When we first got to Camp







Huge Furnace





The Bison Range

Aww. Sorry it didn't go as planned. I just started introducing Frankie to some nature trails at our local/state parks. It is very overstimulating for him. We are working on it. He got real crazy when we got home, but we'll keep trying. I think he would go nuts with horses around.
Keep working on it. Keep us posted on how it's going.
You still got some nice pics