Hiking!

I have been looking for a place to hike here in Missouri for a long time.  I didn't want to have to drive 60 miles away and the trails had to be dog-friendly or I wouldn't even conciser it.  I finally stumbled upon a book called 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles of St. Louis, but I haven't found it in a store yet.  I saw a "clipping" of it on someone's hiking site and took a look.  The outlined trail happened to be only 11 miles from where I lived!
It's called the Lewis and Clark trail (not the real thing, that's way too long to hike...)  and there is an option of taking the 5.3 mile loop (Clark) or 8.3 mile loop (Lewis).  It was a fairly easy trail, considering how much I'm not in shape.  It had some easy spots and some hard spots and was overall a nice adventure.
Conker did far better than I and wasn't out of breath once, unlike me who had to take several rest breaks to catch my breath.

Conker made several stops to sniff at leaves and such, but he would also stop and stand on something and look back at me then stare off into the distance.  If I didn't take a picture of him he'd keep looking back at me until I took one.

Rocky Outcropping #1.  This one had the smallest drop.  The river in the background is the Missouri River.

This part of the trail was a lot steeper than it looks.  It was also quite muddy.   Conker wanted to run down it.

Rocky Outcropping #2.  This one had a HUGE drop.  Conker wasn't interested in the edge and stayed away from it, for the most part.

 Rocky Outcropping #3.  Conker found that tree to me far more interesting than the view.

Earlier that day, someone set the woods next to the trail on fire.  Some firefighter dudes had put out most of it but were still working on a few logs.  Conker didn't like the smoky smell and didn't want to walk by the freshly burnt leaves.


Conker and I stopped at the treat store on the way home.  He got a Himalayan Chew for the first time and LOVES it!  I'm not going to let him power through it like he does to the bully sticks though...  He only gets it after long walks or hikes and then only for about 30 minutes to an hour.  I also discovered that giving him part of a Texas Taffy chew while riding in the car made him a lot less nervous.  He attacked it the second I brought it out of my pack and laid down with it between his paws for the ride home.

We are going to go back to the trail sometime soon.  Either this upcoming Saturday or Sunday, or possibly wait until next Wednesday.  I'm hoping to make it a weekly thing.