Chico’s Hikin’ Herons patch (read more here) came in the mail with an extra one for me and nice note explaining that dogs don’t usually get patches, but the Conservation Commission was sure that he would wear it in public and promote the program.

So I sewed it onto his safety jacket. Chico is almost exactly the same color as our dirt roads, so the vest is a reasonable precaution for a dog who goes off-leash.

To celebrate the arrival of the patches, we went and revisited the Jackman Pond loop. It’s close to home, it’s long enough to be a good walk, but short enough to squeeze into a busy afternoon, it’s shady enough to be comfortable on a warm afternoon.

And it’s lovely, with little views of the pond at a few places on the trail.

Of course, there’s also views like this:

This cell tower is on adjoining property at a place where the CC trail goes quite near the edge of the conserved property.

And he’ll wear his safety vest next time we go to town, so people can see the patch. I wonder if we can go for any other similar patches from local conservation groups?