One of the great perks of hiking is that once you find your rhythm and your legs find a good pace, your mind is free to wander from thought to thought.
Fueled by fresh air and natural surroundings, you can think without interruption, or think of nothing at all.
On a recent trip along Boulder River near Darrington, my thoughts fell to my dog and faithful hiking partner, Tucker.
I watched as he sprinted up the trail, trotting back towards me every once in a while to check in and let me know he hadn’t gone too far.
As a white, purebred cocker spaniel weighing about 28 pounds, you might think his personality would be a little on the prissy side or that he might be a tad wimpy.
He’s just the opposite.
A true outdoors lover and adventurer since I adopted him at a sprite six weeks old, Tucker is happiest when he is muddy and wet, tongue hanging out the side of his mouth, panting with pure delight at all that is to be experienced in nature.
Thrill seeking is one of his favorite pass times.
Before he turned a mere 1 year old, he already had found a keen fondness for taking great leaps off backyard porches, seemingly in an effort to try to fly like the birds he loved to chase. He was daunted only by the fact that his actions usually caused me to yelp in horror as I watched my puppy take flight and fall to the cement stairs below, But the few times I actually caught this happening, I would run down to rescue him, only to be met by wet kisses and a look that seemed to say “Can I do that again?”
I often refer to him as “my little four-by-four” when we hike as he loves to swerve off the trail, ducking under the brush to sniff a fern or something else’s scent he’s caught.
Aside from hiking, he has also accompanied me on numerous camping trips, biking adventures and has experienced the Skykomish, Skagit and Suiattle rivers by both kayak and raft.
And he has never once complained, even when our adventure took a curious wrong turn.
When we had to sleep in my car together when the tent poles went missing, and share a can of cold baked beans when the camping stove failed to ignite, he always seemed content just to be there with me, and to be part of the action.
As I sat at the riverside, I watched as Tucker, stubby tail a– wagging, took pure, honest delight in watching a robin bathe in a small puddle on top of a rock.
And, not for the first time, I found myself wishing I could be more like him.
To run just for the fun of it instead of to burn a few extra calories; to need only the essentials – food, water, a good home and a couple of toys – to be happy; and to live simply to love and to be loved, sounds like heaven.
Perhaps one of the reasons dogs are a man’s – or woman’s – best friend, is that we have so much to learn from them. We should all be so lucky as to live and to experience the world with a dog’s perspective, even if it is just for a brief moment.
Shanti Hahler is the education writer for The Enterprise Newspapers.
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