On Dog Mountain, With Dogs

Hiking's weird. What is it? Just walking. But it's nice. Especially when done alone, on a sun-blasted week day when everyone else is shackled to desks.

So I walked up the side of Dog Mountain yesterday out in the Gorge. Step after step, through the scrub oak, through the silent pines shading me like a canopy, through the scorched fields. The trail was very steep, and when we got to the top, we (me and the dogs) stood there gasping for air and staring east towards Idaho where smoke clung to the valleys and hid them.

Today, I can barely walk. I wonder if the dogs are sore?