Bounce meets a cow and other adventures

We had the pleasure of hosting James, Matt's brother, last weekend and lucked out with beautiful weather on Saturday. A hike was just calling our name. And hopefully this isn't the last blog you read in the coming months about hiking. Matt and I plan to get out as much as possible before the weather turns HOT.

We drove out to the Sierra Foothills for a hike, and it was such a remote location that the GPS couldn't navigate us the whole way (gasp!). We relied on the directions in our guide book, which happen to be wrong by the way. But after driving aimlessly on gravel roads for an extra 30 minutes, we made it to our destination.

The guide book said the hike was about 5 miles and would take 2-4 hours roundtrip, making a big loop to see a waterfall. So that's what we had in our minds, a hike in nature to see a waterfall. Well, the guide book failed to describe one of the most fun parts of the hike: being surrounded by cows! It was unlike any hike I've ever been on. It was like we were out in farmland with cows roaming (and cow pies to avoid stepping in).

Overall the experience was a positive one. We kept a brisk pace and completed the hike in almost exactly 2 hours. Fortunately there weren't any steep inclines to climb, just flat and gradual inclines. The biggest hazards were the cow pies, mud, slippery rocks by the water and poison ivy. We survived them all except my not-so-graceful slip and fall on a rock (good thing I've got extra cushion to soften the fall!).

And like I said, the cows were the best highlight in my opinion. At first I was a little startled and wondered if we were disturbing their zen, but they seemed fine. And actually, little Bounceman made a friend! At one point we were walking through a pretty big group of cows, keeping a safe distance of 20 feet or so. But one small cow saw Bounce and casually started walking towards us. Bounce, being a good dog for once, sat patiently and watched the cow approach.

Bounce spots the cows

The cow spots Bounce

The cow casually walks our direction

And keeps coming

And there he is, our friend the cow

After the cow encounter, our hike back to the car was fairly uneventful. But we did decide to let Bounce off leash to see how he did. I was really nervous because I don't quite trust him yet, but he had walked about 6 miles so far that day so I figured he was tired and couldn't cause too much harm. And fortunately he didn't. But I swear he thrives on doing stuff he isn't supposed to. So once he realized he was off the leash he looked around, got a look in his eyes, grabbed a hardened cow pie and raced around with it in his mouth. Mmmm, nothing like dried cow poo. (ew!) He spritzed around like a truly happy pup, happy to be free in the country and free to chew on cow poop. But I whipped out a treat and he's a sucker for doggy jerky so he dropped the cow pie and raced right on over. Phew.

We're so glad James could come visit for the weekend and motivate us to go see some of the Sierra Foothills.