Happy 1st Birthday Boots! (& The most beautiful place on Earth)

It's been a while.. 2 months almost. Finally got home to see my big girl a few days ago.

Today is her first birthday and every day has been just wonderful, I look forward to at the very least, 10 more long years with her; grandma is 13 and going on strong still which bodes well. Poor girl came into season almost a week ago and was violently ill on her first day, couldn't keep anything down and did nothing but sleep. Tons of fun. But the appetite is unbelievable, she's rocketed up to 7 pounds of raw food daily now and is a complete and utter trash compactor.. between her and the other Danes, 2 deep freezes full of food has dwindled down to basically nothing. Don't think she plans to stop growing any time in the near future but hopefully she becomes lighter on the pocket book here.

Anyway, we have the luxury of living very close to some of the most breathtaking, beautiful scenery on this planet and probably the nicest mountain range in the world. In my infinite wisdom, I decided to test Boots in seeing if she could handle herself on an 8 hour (25 Kilometre) hike up a mountain. Suffice to say, she completely blew me away. We left at 5 AM on empty stomachs, a couple hours sleep and not much in the way of gear. This wasn't a leisurely hike either, inclines of sharp 45 degree angles and so-forth.

Starting to ramble, here are some of the pictures.. it was cloudy and stormy, usual typical mountain affair. And no, NOT me in the pics, last time I checked I was male -



- Smelt like food to her







- More food




- It was cold, windy and a group of tourists from Australia had just slobbered over Boots for 15 minutes.. we were grumpy, in a good way.

- Suffice to say, she loved all the sights, smells and sounds!






- Starting the long hike







- On the lake shore, Lake Minnewanka: 30 KM long and 350+ ft deep.. HUGE.

- She is going into tracking, this dog is smart as hell. She was pointing all day long and it was kind of captured in this pic.




- Traveling very light








- Could have sat here for hours listening to the waves cresting.

- Water was freezing, about -10 Celsius, she didn't like it














- One of the few times we had a blue sky. Not complaining though! Nothing like the crazy unpredictability of mountain weather!








That's all for now, gotta grab some shut-eye.

You both look great and the scenery is breathtaking.

what a gorgeous place!

yep, totally breathtaking! Great pics!
Happy Birthday Boots!!

Ok, where do you live again??

Love the pictures and Boots is a beauty!

Don't know which is more breathtaking, the scenery or Boots. Happy Birthday!

Boots is STUNNING!!! As is the view

gorgeous!

Since they haven't returned to the thread..

Lake Minnewanka is located in Alberta, in Banff National park. There is nothing like the canadian rockies! It's very beautiful there.


Gorgeous pictures, as always. I always look forward to your threads, boots is one of my favourite chaz dogs.

Ah. I'm at the foot of the American Rockies these days.

Its a definite must see, and especially if you like hiking there is all kinds of awesome trails in the kanaskis.

Thank you. Not me in the pictures though.

The best part is there is so much to see and do, could easily live in the area all your life and only experience a little of it.

Thanks.

Thanks. I live in Edmonton, AB. Near the Canadian Rockies, Jasper is about 3 hours West and Banff is about 3.5 hours SouthWest. Calgary is about an hour away from Kananaskis, Canmore, Banff ect.

Thank you.

Thanks!

Thanks!

Thank you, glad you enjoy the pictures! Unfortunately I find myself so stretched for time these days, I don't get on as much as I'd like to. Hopefully next time it's not a 2 month hiatus.





Thanks all!