Paws2Trail

@paws2trail

Two Guys from Minnesota and their assortment of huskies (currently Zeena and Tonttu) sharing their outdoor adventures

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Paws2Trail@paws2trail· 6d

And in the end, a picnic! We've gotten into the habit of hitting A&W or Culver's after a hike, because one or the other is usually a close drive, but this time we remembered that picnicking was an option! Tonttu was not used to human AND dog food (Honest Kitchen) being prepared at the same time!

Jeff unwraps a chicken salad wrap in a green spinach tortilla-like bread-slab, while two bowls of powered Honest Kitchen dog food hydrate in plastic bowls on the picnic table in front of him. A plastic container of potato salad waits to the side, along with other human picnic paraphernalia. Tonttu, on Jeff's right, has his front feet on the picnic bench, bringing his head high over the picnic table, tongue out, focused on either the wrap or the kibble.

Moments later from the previous photo, Jeff takes a bit of chicken salad wrap, looking up at the camera. Tonttu has crouched down a bit, ears back in submission or preparation to leap, it's hard to say. His tongue sticks out just a bit from under his tongue, more than a blep, less than a mlem.

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· 6d

The return leg brought us up and around a slope that reminds us of the Parting of the Fellowship scene at the end of the first LoTR movie -- you half expect to see orcs tearing down the slope at you! (See especially the first photo.) #Hiking #Huskies

Tonttu leads the way along a narrow track following the side of a hill that slopes steeply upwards to the right. There is little vegetation under the canopy held up by grayish deciduous trunks, and a foreboding formation of rick sits near the top of the slope.

Zeena leaps down over a large tree trunk that has fallen over the path on a slope that descends to the right. Jeff follows.

Tonttu pauses on a steeply climbing trail that ascends and even steeper descent down to the left, with an imposing bit of rock hanging over the trail above to the right. A shaft of light cuts diagonally down, highlighting Tonttu's face, which has a derpy bit of tongue poking out.

Tonttu looking more majestic, minus derp tongue, from the previous shot, looking dramatically over his shoulder down the steep slope to the left.

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· 6d

Particularly like this shot, where Zeena has taken the high road, while tiny Jeff and Tonttu can be seen to the right of her ears! #Hiking #Huskies

Husky Zeena follows a path going left to right across the scene, with a steep fall down towards the top of the image. Bare rock can be seen as she follows a ridgeline, with a slightly less steep slope covered by red cedar trunks to the right. If you look very closely, you can see human Jeff and husky Tonttu far down on a lower trail, just to the right and up from Zeena's head.

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· 6d

Yesterday drove down to Whitewater SP, which sits about half way between Rochester and the Miss. R. it's a very crinkly bit of landscape, with steep valleys cut through karst limestone. Interesting to look at on a map, but tiring to hike up and down! #Hiking #Huskies

Jeff and Tonttu stand on the edge of a flat rocky bluff outcrop looking over the Whitewater River valley, through which 2-lane rural highway 74 cuts, with a bit of flat prairie in a wide area of the valley to the right. Zeena snuffles at the grasses in the foreground.

Hikers Jeff and Tonttu proceed down a path that follows the edge of a bluff, so covered in low sumac and other vegetation that you can't even see Tanttu in the lead. Zeena follows, leading the photographer, on a path that disappears before her nose. The bluff falls away steeply on the right, and the valley below curves left, then right between steep slopes on the other side.

Zeena looks out from a small rocky outcrop, facing south across the valley. The Middle Fork of the Whitewater River is far below, with a low auto bridge crossing it. The steep slopes on the far side are covered in deciduous trees, but a bit of rock can be seen where it's too steep for trees.

A screenshot of Google Maps' "terrain" layer of the land surrounding Whitewater State Park. It's a gently rippling flat landscape cut with squiggly valleys that funnel from the west, south and southeast to a widening of the river, where the main campground is, at the top of the map. Whitewater Highway, #74, follows the valley wandering south to north, through the park. Chimney Rock is marked at a high point on the right, and there's also a marker for Berea Moravian Church on flat land to the right.

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· 11d

While the day started out cool, the hot sun quickly warmed up the landscape & hikers. We took full advantage of shady portions of the hike, such as this tree-covered road on the far end of our loop. Not terrible conditions as far as summer hiking goes, but we're greatly looking forward to fall!

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· 11d

Zeena thinks this is MUCH better! Thank you very much! With the rain over we headed to UMore Park, owned by the U. of MN and a mix of ag. research & wild landscapes. Zeena & Tonttu had plenty of opportunities to pounce for mouses, ground squirrels & moles along the way! #Hiking #Huskies #Pouncing

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· 12d

Zeena may be sad that it's raining, but her humans are delighted! July's been a hot, humid slog with little rain & many nights with the house closed & the AC running. But today it ends with a steady rain, cool air, and light breezes coming through open windows. It's glorious! #Huskies #RainyDay

Fluffy gray and white husky Zeena rests indoors on a hardwood floor, relaxed but listless, bored, eyes half open, staring at nothing in particular. A movie poster of one of her celebrity heroes can be seen out of focus down the hall behind her.

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· 19d

Finally, a young Wood Thrush so focused on begging for food from its parents in the middle of the trail that Zeena & Tonttu would have caught it if I hadn't held them back! It flew up to the brush at the side of the trail completely unconcerned about me getting video. #Birding #WoodThrush

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· 19d

More sights, and some friendly humans, by the falls.

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· 19d

Sights, and sounds (and SNACKS) of the falls at Whitewater State Park.

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· 19d

On Wed we took advantage of the cool temps and clean air for a nice long hike at Willow River SP, across the border in WI. It was great to stretch our legs after a long stretch of hot, smoky weather! Of course, we went to explore the side pools and seeps under the shady cliffs.

Huskies Zeena and Tonttu explore a rippling pool on the side of a medium sized river that's cutting its way through rocky cliffs. Behind them is the main falls, a wide shelf over which water tumbles in a frothy spray, with smaller shelves further down on the left. The pool on the side is bordered by a large boulder, a jumble of driftwood and rocks in the middle of the flow covered in green grass and other vegetation.

Tonttu leads Zeena across a narrow ledge in the midst of a slippery slope on the side of the falls, slick with a sheet of water and brown mossy growth underneath. Plants grow on the steep slope above, through which a cut holds a big pipe, walled off at the bottom, some form of old, disused hydropower.

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· 26d

And one final video, this time of Zeena exploring the deeper waters below the falls. There was a faint rainbow in the water spray, but neither the camera nor Zeena seemed to notice. #Huskies #Waterfall

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· 26d

A calm, cool, quiet moment before resuming the hike. As the narrator points out: we usually don't get here early enough to enjoy the sun sparkling off the falls.

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· 26d

We got moving early to avoid mid-day heat and also managed to miss much of the chaos that tends to congregate at the falls. We had it all to ourselves for a nice stretch.

Huskies Tonttu and Zeena enjoy the pool at the base of the falls they were standing above in the previous post. A flat and straight wall of rock forms the falls, with an undercut at the base creating a dark mysterious cavern. Water trickles over the middle in a lacy sheet that falls on mossy rocks below. Further down, ferns and plants on the vertical face shine in the sun before the cliff disappears into shadow at the far end. Sunlight shines through to the pool in the middle of the scene, and causes bits of the scene on either side to pop in brightness against the shade.

Zeena explores the shady left side of the pool below the falls in the previous photos, while hiker Jeff and husky Tonttu explore the flat ledge above, both partly lit with dappled sunlight.

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· 26d

After two days stuck in the house because of wildfire smoke, things cleared enough for us to escape back to the woods! It's still hot and humid, so we chose a shady hike at Nerstrand Big Woods, and hit Hidden Falls on the way out AND back. Just enough water for water-cooled husky action!

Two huskies investigate shallow water above a waterfall. The bedrock creates a flat shelf over which the water flows in a thin surface, then drops over a sharp line straight down to a pool below. Husky Zeena stands at the edge in full sun, looking down, while Tonttu investigates the shallows in the shade. The surrounding trees cast shade over much of the scene, except the middle of the stream and some clumps of branches and leaves that shine green on the far side.

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· Jul 4

Hot, humid weather persists. We took the pups for a walk around Lk Nokomis in MPLS yesterday. Water remains safe enough for swimming for now! Most of the shoreline is shallow, which Zeena prefers, but where the geese were hanging out, it was much deeper, to Tonttu's surprise when he jumped into it!

Husky Tonttu, already wet from previous swims, strains at the end of the leash towards Canada Geese hanging out in the water just off shore.

Huskies Zeena and Tonttu enjoy shallow, sandy-bottom shoreline of the same lake as in previous photos. It's a calm day, with circular ripples expanding out from each. Sailboats cluster, moored together on the far shore, waiting for breezier conditions.

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· Jul 4

Tonttu would probably compete well in Dock Dog if we were allowed to put Canada Geese at the far end of the pool! #DockDog #Huskies

Husky Tonttu swims back towards shore after being thwarted from his effort to catch a Canada Goose by the long Flexi lead attached to his harness. He's swimming in Lake Nokomis, a medium sized lake in Minneapolis, with a wide, low bridge crossing the far left side of the shore. A bow of geese swim away in a wide arc, all looking back to keep an eye on the predator, who looks a bit like a long-eared and pointy-muzzled otter, sunk down to his spine and tail in the deep water.

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· Jun 29

Sat. was the last nice day before HEAT settled in, so we headed to William O'Brien State Park for a hike! Sunny & a bit warm, but breezes helped out a lot, & there were several places for the pups to cool off. We're now hunkered down, AC on, and thinking about fall... #Huskies #Hiking

Human hiker Jeff heads out on a hike through a prairie with husky Tonttu, who bounds through the taller grass and flowers on the right side of the mowed trail. A single-story visitor center with solar panels on the roof nestles in the trees on the far edge of the prairie, below blue skies.

Husky Zeena pauses on the edge of a trail mowed through a prairie with woodlands and hills on the far horizon. A narrow, patchy swath of reddish wispy grasses borders the edge of the trail, with scattered white Queen Anne's Lace type flowers and yellow daisies scattered in the taller grass. Zeena looks back at the camera, happy to be out exploring but wondering when the photographer will be done and the hike can resume.

A wide expanse along a high point in a hiking trail, where grass quickly turns to low sumac, which falls away into a deep valley, with a flat horizon of trees on the other side of the valley far on the horizon. The St. Croix river flows somewhere down below, and that's the eastern Wisconsin side of the river in the distance. It's a bright, sunny day, with mare's tails clouds drifting across the sky and husky Zeena investigating smells and sounds in the sumac on the right side of the image.

Husky Zeena investigates a beaver pond mostly covered with water lilies. Her body parts the tall grass on the edge of the pond, and tall cattails border the far side. There are spots of clear water among the water lilies, which also sport a number of white flowers.

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· Jun 26

On another walk, this time along the MN River, Zeena risks arrest & prosecution for following the private Excel Energy access road (left) that parallels the multi-use path (right). Despite the scary warning signs to NOT TRESPASS on the road, Zeena escaped consequences of breaking the law. #Huskies

A human in a broad-brimmed hat, field vest and shorts walks two huskies down parallel paved trails that run straight towards a vanishing point in the distance. The hiker is near the middle, and one husky follows the opposite edge of each trail on either side. A thin layer of clouds spreads across the wide sky, with blue showing on the horizon.

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· Jun 26

Clouds created extra dramatic lighting for our huskies as they were entranced by the fluffy cows (bison) at Spring Lake Park on a recent walk. #Huskies #Bison

Two huskies in the foreground strain against the leads attached to their hiking harnesses as they watch big brown blobs graze in a prairie. A matrix of clouds and blue sky spreads across the scene, and one of those clouds casts a shadow on the bison and the far half of the prairie, causing the huskies to shine out in bright sunlight.

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· Jun 14

We hiked out to Wacona Bluff, which first takes you across the prairie, then up a hill around a stand of trees to yet another grassy hilltop. Over the top of that is a copse of shady oak trees that look over Pleasant Valley and out to distant Lake Pepin, which is a natural widening of the Miss. R.

Hikers Jeff, a human in shorts, long-sleeved sun-protecting shirt, field vest and wide-brimmed hat, and Tonttu, a gray and white husky with black markings, pause on a freshly mowed path down a hill in a prairie. A clump of bright orange butterfly weeds, a kind of milkweed with showy flower clusters, stands right in front of Tonttu. Three trees stand out on the horizon on the left side of the hill against a clear blue sky.

Three hikers descend a rise in the prairie towards some sort of drop off with another wide hillside hazy on the horizon beyond. Tonttu and Jeff descend a path mowed along a treeline on the right while Zeena explores the grasses for critters on the left.

Standing in the shade of big oak trees with wide spreading branches, you look out over a steep, tree-covered slope across a long lake cutting through a wide valley towards a distant, even wider river, the Mississippi, just on the horizon. One tree trunk stands in shadow on the left, and it holds a branch out to the right, then drooping down to the ground, framing the distant scene.

Looking back from the previous vista photo, you see hikers Jeff and Tonttu enjoying the shade. Jeff sits on a bench made of flat stones, holding his camera up to his face while Tonttu lies on the ground, head up and long tongue out as he enjoys the cool. Gnarly oaks spread their branches overhead, creating a maze of shadows on the ground below. The prairie hill the hikers just descended glows bright in the sun behind them.

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· Jun 14

Yesterday we returned to Frontenac SP, now happily sprouted after a controlled burn earlier this spring. Weather was gorgeous, with cooler temps than usual and a nice breeze. Huskies and humans had a great time! 1/ #Huskies #Hiking

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· Jun 3

It's Zeena's 11th birthday today! Please join Tonttu and us in wishing her a happy, bouncy birthday. 🎂 #Huskies

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· Jun 2

Not all fluff is husky fluff! At least not when it's springtime in the river bottoms where the cottonwood grows.

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· May 30

Zeena approves of the new pools in the stream habitat "improvement" at the Minnesota Valley Nat'l Wildlife Refuge. (Humans are not so sure: this used to be a nice shady stream with overhanging trees, great for warblering during migration. Now it's much more exposed.)

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· May 29

A rare second hike for the day took everyone down Park Point, Duluth, to the end and back, nearly 5 miles! Humans had forgotten how much of that was on sand (not just on the beach). Choice of footwear was not ideal. Huskies enjoyed it however! Nearly another 5 miles total out and back.

Tonttu leads Jeff down a sandy beach. Lake Superior is on the right, Duluth on the shore far in the distance behind, and the rotating light of the Park Point airport pokes up from behind a dune on the left.

Jeff pauses on the shore of Superior Bay, the opposite side of Park Point from Lake Superior. A church and a couple of industrial buildings (possibly grain transfer stations) stand on the distant shoreline. Jeff is holding the Flexi leashes of Zeena and Tonttu, who investigate the calm shallow water of the bay.

Tonttu and Jeff approach the very end of Park Point, Duluth, Minnesota. There is a metal wall holding back the sand from the channel that connects Lake Superior, left, to Superior Bay, right. Another metal wall defines the other side of the channel and the border of Wisconsin on the other side.

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· May 29

After that we drove up to Park Point and hiked the sandy trails east to the channel that divides Minnesota from Wisconsin. The Lake Superior side to the north was rough with winds off the lake, and Zeena was very energized by the sounds and smells!

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· May 29

Conditions were just about perfect! Warm sun but cool breezes, warblers singing away, trails as un-muddy as you can expect from this park (still muddy in spots, but able to traipse around the edges without sinking in), and NO MOSQUITOES.

Zeena advances down a dirt track towards the camera, her mostly white husky fur shining in the bright sun, and a big husky smile on her muzzle. Jeff, her human companion, is currently in shade from trees along the side. In the background and overhead, deciduous trees are only partly leafed out in early spring.

Husky Tonttu rests and cools off in the coppery water of the St. Louis River, surrounded by grasses growing out of the shallows, and with spikey rocks behind, marking the end of the rapids upstream. Tonttu has a bit of a contented smile on his muzzle as he gazes contentedly at the camera.

A wavy distorted evergreen trunk stump that has been broken off in a large jagged split that shines in the sun. Someone who cleaned up the remains across the trail stuck a chunk of log in a V-shaped notch near the top, with a smiley face drawn on the circular cut facing the trail.

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· May 29

After crossing the river, we dropped down to water level on the River Trail for a quick dip to cool off before turning back inland. Water was much lower and more calm than during spring melt-off season!

Paws2Trail@paws2trail· May 29

Yesterday we escaped neighborhood construction N. to Duluth for gorgeous weather, with cool temps & nice breezes. Spring was about a month behind back in the Metro. We crossed the St. Louis R. in Jay Cooke SP for a 4mi loop, hiking & birding with Zeena & Tonttu (the suspension bridge scardy-cat).