Last time I wrote, the post ended with notice that we were going for a hike. And hike we did. Almost in my backyard is Larcom Mountain, named for poet Lucy Larcom. It takes just a few minutes to walk to the trailhead. In that short distance, I found a couple images I had to grab.

These cool mushrooms,

and this speckled leaf on the road.

The trail starts in the upper corner of this pasture.

There it is, Larcom, just ahead.

The climb is steep and straight until the spot where the trail to the top of Little Larcom splits off, then it flattens out a bit.

“Oh good,” I thought to myself, “I’m almost there. That wasn’t so bad, wonder why I never came this far before?”

But, I was mistaken. The trail gets pretty steep and with wet, freshly fallen leaves and unknown footing, hiking alone, I was afraid I might slip on the way back down, this is no place to be alone with a twisted ankle, so I turned back.

Chico had no objections to heading back.

And there were endless beautiful leaves to admire no matter what path one walked.

Besides, we could easily make it to the top of Little Larcom for a view and a rest.

It’s not a wide open summit, but there’s a bit of a view,

and lots of lovely lichen.

I don’t think Chico actually admires views,

but he can do a convincing imitation of someone enjoying a view.

When I sat down, he was ready for a break too.

But…no way are you leaving without me.

Back down the hill one gets a pretty spectacular view of the northeastern section of the Ossipees.

That’s Mount Whittier, if I know my neighborhood.

Some kind of fun, two or three hours in the mountains with my dog. I think he feels the same way.

We’re not doing any agility trials until the second of November, I’m looking to walk as much as I can because it seems to be helping reset all the muscles in my lower half, we’re working on back-up as a cued behavior because I’m interested in building Chico’s strength with a FitPaws, or similar system and backing up seems like step one for some of the hind end exercises.