After the trial on Saturday, we packed up and headed for Mount Greylock State Park. We grabbed dinner along the way and arrived at the parking lot around 6:45 or so. Grabbing our packs, we headed for the trail. It was a 1.3 mile easy hike to the campground, but we decided to take a longer loop and pass an isolated lean-to just in case it was available. It wasn't, so we kept along that trail towards the camp site. The trail started pretty tame, but then things got more exciting. The trail became very steep down towards a river. I had hooked Jonah's leash to the bottom strap of my pack and he was happily walking out in front of me, but when we started going down so steeply he was wanting to go faster than I did. The footing was slick, so eventually I just let him loose to pick his own way down to the bridge. He was very good about staying right ahead of me on the trail and not going too far. When we got to the bridge I put him back on his leash but soon it was so steep upwards that I had to let him go again so I wasn't pulling him down on top of me. I think he loves those steep trails, but they're definitely harder with a leash.
After we got through the tough terrain, we made it to our site. It was a lovely, quiet campsite. I woke up in the middle of the night and it was incredibly silent--so relaxing. We're getting to like our tent setup a lot. The only issue was, when we packed in and didn't have extra blankets around, Jonah tried to steal about half of my sleeping pad. I think we're going to have to get him a little pad of his own that he can carry in his pack. We didn't put his pack on him this time, but for longer trips it could be very useful.
In the morning we headed back to the car on the easier path, put our packs in the car, and drove to a trail head a little ways away. We were ready to do some trail running, but the paths were just too rocky and rooted. Luckily there was some good terrain to give us decent exercise. We ended up going over 7 miles, and then we went to the lodge on top of the mountain for lunch. Up there, a nice lady saw Jonah, gasped, and asked if she could say hello. I told her he was shy sometimes, but he would tell her if he was not interested. Quite the contrary, he wagged and looked up at her happily. She baby-talked to him, hugged him, and buried her head in his neck fur and whispered to him, "The good days are here now." Her husband laughed and said, "And sometimes he's not shy." I was so proud of him, and I thought her words were so astute. I guess it's clear that he's a rescue, and now he was being friendly and out for a fun walk. Yes, the good days are indeed here now. A few miles down the trial we ran into the same couple again and when she approached him he was stressed and barked. Well, sometimes he's still shy/unfriendly. I suppose good days aren't perfect days. Good thing we've still got things to work on.
All in all, it was a wonderful weekend and we can't wait to go hiking and camping again soon.
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