Lila and I have been taking lots of long walks, looking for new trails wherever we can find them. There’s one very beautiful trail just a few feet from my door. It runs along the brook which runs along beside my property and over to another big lake in the neighborhood. I used to go there frequently with Katie, my last dog. Last fall Lila and I took our first hike by the brook together.
It was a fairly rainy fall and the weather was not great that day. But I put on my rubber boots and felt prepared for anything. It’s a lovely trail. The brook widens in a couple of places and becomes large ponds. The trail starts out on one side of the brook and then you need to cross over a bridge to the other side to continue. That day the bridge seemed very slimy and rickety. I told Lila I didn’t want to cross back over it so, even though the trail was very wet and difficult, we were going to continue to the end and walk back by the road.
On the way we met a man and his large Beauvier. He told us to be careful, it was very boggy further on. I said that’s okay, I had my boots on. What I didn’t realize was that my boots leaked (they have a zipper) and the trail was definitely extremely messy. We trudged on and were grateful to hit the road and walk back on firm land.
A couple of weeks later I met the man again at a party in the neighborhood. He told me when he crossed the bridge that day, it broke, with him and his dog on it. He landed up to his knees in cold water. Fortunately he had his cell phone with him, called his wife and was rescued. Just think: it could have been me. And I usually forget to carry my cell phone.