Dollar Hill

I'm pretty sure it's actually called Dollar Mountain, but it was more like a really big steep hill to me.


Anyways, I FINALLY got myself up before noon (at noon...), grabbed Conker and headed out to Dollar Hill.  It's about a ten minute drive from my house up on some hill thing with lots of turns and whatnot.  Parking is on the side of the road and the trail on the other side.
There was no sign with rules so I grabbed the 30-foot lead and strapped it to my pack, grabbed Conker and began to hike.

It was relatively easy at first with a few inclines that were so-so.  But after a short while we came upon a huge incline that was really steep. (it would do that, be easy then super steep, rinse and repeat)  Conker did just fine but me, being horribly out of shape, had to stop every fifteen feet or so for a break.  Sad really, since back when I was 13 I would be able to run up this little mountain in about ten minutes.  Took me an hour to walk up it slowly today.

Conker wasn't fond of people on the trail.  People on walks he's "okay" with and won't bark at them.  But people on trails... STAY AWAY I DON'T WANT YOU HERE!  We need to work on that.
There was something to look forwards to at the top of the mountain.  I'd somewhat forgotten what it was and figured it might be a rock or an outhouse or something dumb like that.

Nah, it was a radio tower.  The thing hummed loudly and Conker didn't like it at first, but when a kid and his father came up all thoughts of the humming things behind a big chain-link fence with barbed wire at the top vanished.  Grr, people on my mountain, LEAVE!

Conker posed in front of the tower and stuff, then we headed down.  I decided to be weird and took off my somewhat uncomfortable hiking boots and strapped them to my pack and went down barefoot.  No pictures of my hobbit feet, so don't worry about that.
Conker, since he was good on the way up, was allowed to roam on the 30-foot lead.  He was a dork though and decided he wanted to RUN down the hill so I had to keep telling him to slow down, stop or come back.  No off-leash for him.

Conker liked the downhill.  I always do, except for the real steep parts.  I let him range out when it was semi or mostly flat, but on those steep declines I didn't want to risk anything happening to his knees so the lead was kept short and I had him stay beside me.
Overall it was a fun hike.  I got Conker to sit quietly (for the most part) by having him lick at a salmon treat as two high-school girls walked past us on the way down.  I don't know what his beef is about people on trails, but I'm, gonna fix it.


Speaking of beef...

Beef is what Conker got today after our hike.  It was nice, after he ate his food he laid down and took a digestive nap.  I usually have to keep him confined to my room for 30 minutes so he doesn't go rampaging around the house and potentially barf up his freshly consumed meats.  I guess the hike was just enough to make him tired enough to sleep after eating.