Hiking in Maine with Kelley: 12/9/15 Walden

Thursday, December 10, 2015

12/9/15 Walden

Twenty degrees when we got up so I stalled 'till it got to thirty. Kelley did not seem very enthusiastic so I decided on a short exploration. A long time ago we had got off track at Walden and ended up some trails not on the map. We ended up coming out at a road and then found our way back. I thought it would be interesting to start from that spot on the road and explore that area but when we got there we found a "no trespassing" sign. So we just did the loop trail.

A pretty day in the woods

The wetlands along the old rail bed

A weed - there are few plants left

We only did an hour as Kelley never did get enthusiastic. She did, however, manage to find some open water and get wet. Supposed to rain tomorrow so probably another short day.

2 comments:

Kim@Snug HarborDecember 10, 2015 at 7:07 PM
Still no snow, huh? Us either - its been unseasonably warm here.
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Kelley

Kelley was purchased along with two cats to be companions in a nursing home my wife owned. It became evident that she had a problem with her back legs and had pain. The vet said she had arthritis and she needed to lose weight and get lots of exercise so she came home and we gradually began hiking and put her on a diet. She improved to the point that she had no more pain and had an almost normal gait. When Mary left us we dealt with it by doing even more hiking and immersing ourselves in nature. Kelley did all of the peaks at Acadia as well as most others within a couple of hours of home. And I lost about 20 pounds. She loves to hike and will go as long as I will.

Kelley Update

A bit about how Kelley has been doing. You may be wondering why we are doing shorter and less strenuous hikes. In the story about Kelley above I indicate that the problem with her legs had pretty much been resolved. At the end of August last year I broke my ankle coming down from Dorr Mtn. and was not able to hike for 3 months and then we had a hard winter. This spring Kelley had a return of the arthritis problem in her back legs. She had to go back on medication and we could do little serious hiking. I think she lost some of the strength the vet thought was compensating for her problem. We have been building up the length of our hikes and Kelley is doing better and her medications have been cut way back. I am optimistic at this point that we will get back to the level we had reached before I broke my ankle.

Kelley Update 12/31/11

Kelley is doing well, hardly ever exhibits lameness or needs pain medication. She has been very excited the few times we got snow as she really loves to run in it. She seems also to have no problem with cold and is eager to be out in the woods whatever the weather.

1/24/12

Kelley continues to do well with slightly increased mileage. She seems better the more we do.

8/8/15 Update

It's been quite awhile between updates. Kelley is now 8 years old and does not seem to have the limberness she had achieved or the endurance. Occassionaly she lets me know she doesn't want to hike and we have a day off. We have also cut down the time per hike and I have been trying different times and hikes to find the best hikes/time so that she gets her needed exercise but doesn't overdo it. I wish she could talk. We still get out most days and right now an hour and a half seems about right but it's a continuing process.

Hiking in Maine with Kelley

The Rest of Our Hiking Pictures Can Be Found Here

Finding Trail Descriptions

Thursday, December 10, 2015

12/9/15 Walden

2 comments:

Kelley

Kelley Update

Kelley Update II

Kelley Update 12/31/11

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