Back in Big Sky Country

    Hey furiends!  I am back in Big Sky Country, and I have already made myself feel right at home.  I have received a couple awards this week and am so THANKFUL for the recognition and CAN'T WAIT to give one of the awards to five other people.  The other award involves letting you pups know some stuff about me that you don't already know.  BOL!  You are in for some surprises!  Watch my posts over the next couple of days to see what I mean! 

     I convinced Scrappy, my BIG sister (BOL) to go on a snow hike with me!  Kansas doesn't even have snow yet, so of course, the first adventure we did had to have snow!  We wandered out into the deep woods where the trees were draped in snow to play a great game of CHASE!  I really DON'T WANT TO ADMIT IT, but Scrappy is faster than I am.  She chases me, barking in her little bossy voice.  It makes me so excited that I whine.  I LOVE playing chase with my sissy.  I have missed her and the family so much when we have been in Kansas.  It is so nice to be home for Christmas.  She has NO IDEA what I am giving her for Christmas.  I bet it's so good that she'll blog about it!  Here is a little pic blog from our first Montana adventure!  Thanks again for the awards!  I will blog about them soon.  Hope all my furiends are starting their bark-downs to Christmas!  Ruff!

Chase

My new style for Christmas

My people

You're it!

Wahooooo

Wow, I've missed this place.

I think I will become a snow bunny

Hiking again in Montana with loved ones,
   Kootenai

Dog Dayz Hike

      Here is a great hike near Red Lodge, Montana for the dogs out there that want to travel to neat places.  Red Lodge, Montana is right outside of the Beartooth Wilderness about an hour and a half from Billings, Montana.  Rugged mountains surround you when hiking and a dog friendly ski town welcomes you for dinner when your paws are rubbed raw and worn out from your adventures.  The photos from this hike are from Quinnebaugh Meadows on West Fork Road.  It is an off leash trail that has such nice doggies to meet while hiking! 

Quinnebaugh Meadows, Red Lodge, Montana 2010

     My mom and dad brought me up here winter and summer.  In the summer we would hike near the rushing stream and in the winter we would nordic ski in the deep snow.  Sometimes we would go swimming in the beautiful crisp, cool mountain lakes.   I would swim after the ducks for hours as mom and dad skipped rocks on the shore.  (I miss the mountain lakes.)   One time I was nose to nose with a duck.  I didn't know what to do when he didn't fly away.  So I gave him a big kiss on the nose and he chased me like he was the dog and I was the duck.  I guess he was having a bad day or was in denial of his identity.  Stupid duck.  Anyway....  That's a tale for another day.  This is a picture of my dad and I. He wasn't aware I was going to be in it until the last moment.  Haha!

I always know where the camera is!

     My favorite part about this beautiful hike were the beautiful boulders I could climb to become Queen of the Mountains.  I love to be the highest thing around and there were more boulders than my mom could count.

 The hike itself follows a stream, so my mom and dad didn't have to carry a zillion bottles of water for me on their backs.  (When they aren't carrying water they are a little faster when hiking.  I always want to go faster!)  The meadow is about two miles up on the hike, but you can keep going a total of twelve more miles.  Several backpacking places exist for the avid outdoorsmen mom and dads!  My mom and dad love to backpack with me and my Ruffwear backpacking bed.  !    If you do take this hike, don't pass up driving the world famous Beartooth Highway and spending a day with the down home dog lovers of Red Lodge, Montana. 

Hike with you later!  

Missing Montana

   The breath goes in, out.  It's getting more desperate.  It's increasing speed. I look down over my left paw.  A two thousand foot drop of rock and scatterred shrubs fill my vision.  I see two mountain goats climbing down, skidding here and there.  My instinct says run, but I know I can't go there.  I can't do that.  I do know that I can climb higher than my mom and dad, though.  I can outrun them.  I could run away into this wilderness and have the time of my life chasing squirrels, catching mice, and swimming after wild ducks, but I don't.  I don't because I love my mom and dad.  I know that they are doing the best they can to keep up with me!  I can't wait to reach the top and knock the camera over after the timer goes off because it makes that annoying beeping sound that I hate.  It's really funny to watch my mom and dad running toward me screaming, "NO!  KOOTENAI DO NOT TOUCH THE CAMERA....!"  As I said, they are too slow.  I love to watch it hit the ground.  Kodak makes good products, though.  The camera is still alive after over one hundred hikes with my mom and dad. 

"Kootenai...Kootenai...wake up girl.  What are you dreaming about?"

Yawning, I look around.  I wish the saying, "You're not in Kansas anymore," had some truth to it. 
"Hey pretty girl...time to go for a walk!  Are you hungry?"  Mom races to the closet to grab my shiny silver bowl. 

Okay....even though I am still in Kansas, the food is the same here.   I love my meals.  After my meals and sometimes before, I am taken to the dog parks by my mom and dad.   My mom and dad take me every night because I live in an apartment and need lots of exercise.  They love to take me swimming, running, and biking.  I've decided they are a pretty great family.  Sometimes they take me to the speciality pet stores here in Overland Park to buy me new collars and pretty hand decorated puppy cookies.  I like it here, but I still miss my Montana family and friends.  I have a couple of new friends I have met at the dog park here in Kansas.  One is named Colby.  Colby is a golden retriever who sometimes stays at my house when his mommy and daddy are out of town.  The other one is named Bentley.  He loves to go to Heritage Dog Park with me and chase all of the birds.  He wears me out! 

"Come on Kootenai!  Time to go to the park!" mom grabs my pink John Deere leash.

I have to go now.  I miss my Montana adventures, but I am learning how to have fun here in Kansas.  I know my mom and dad miss the mountains a lot too because they are always trying to plan a trip to the Ozarks and they already took me hiking in Denver.  Until I am able to go back home, I will keep dreaming about my mountain climbing adventures and will share some of them with you on my blog.  I have so many stories to tell you.  Some about hiking with black bears, some about relaxing in nature, and some about how my daddy proposed to my mommy.  ( I almost knocked the ring down the waterfall!  Oops!)  Anyway...talk to you soon.  Enjoy my first blog!