[pct-l] Siberian Husky

Mon May 20 18:59:14 CDT 2013

Actually, Devil's Postpile is one of the few national park service locales in California where dogs are welcome.  I hiked there with my little boy last summer and the park service even provides doggie bags to pick up with:  please use them.

I've just joined this list, and am reticent to leap into a heated debate, especially since I section hike, usually for only 50 miles or less.  But that said, I would never take my dog out for more than a week.  And I would always leave an exit option to make the trip shorter.  I love hiking with Bambi, but when hiking with a dog, as others have noted, the dog has to come first and if that means exiting a trail early, then so be it.  I think a series of alternating short and long day hikes is the best option for a summer with your pet.  

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.  Fritz (Lonely Turtle).

Devil's Postpile (a National Monument - dogs not welcome).

-----Original Message-----
From: ckwrkornge <ckwrkornge at aol.com>
To: pct-l <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Mon, May 20, 2013 12:43 pm
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Siberian Husky

Hiya:

A few things I've noticed about taking dogs hiking and backcountry skiing:

1) Have a contingency plan if the dog gets sick/injured.  Do you have the phone 
number of the nearest vet?  Who will watch Juno if he becomes unable to 
continue, but you still want to go on?  Do you have something (your pack and 
trekking poles) you can use to hike Juno out if he becomes unable to move any 
more?

2) Get a pair of Kevlar booties for Juno for the desert & aforementioned volcano 
rocks.  The dog won't like it, but snow and ice and stabby plants will cause a 
lot of pad issues.  If you put them on right before hikes, he might associate 
the booties with fun time and be a little better about not chewing them off.  
Vit E oil can help for a little dryness, but not huge sores.

3) Your dog is going to get very hot in the desert.  Folks I know with dogs in 
the desert hike about 4 hours in the morning and a couple at night, so if you 
seriously want to take the dog give yourself a lot of time to get to Kennedy 
Meadows and plan your water sources accordingly.

4) Your dog should know "come", "stay" and "leave it" to avoid any issues with 
wildlife.  The dog should obey these commands even if faced with something very 
desirable that runs on its own accord (maybe you could practice this with a mean 
rooster?)  I know a couple of huskys who have mastered the "leave it" command 
regarding wildlife and livestock, but disregarded the "stay" command, or the 
"come" command and have had many stitches involved with barbed wire fencing.  
You don't want this to happen to your dog.

5) That little trowel should be used to pick up dog poo too.  Please, please, 
bury the dog's poo if it's near the trail or a campsite!

A lot of dogs breeds are historically used for work and work hard (I'm saying 
this more to the anti-dog lobby). Continue working with Juno or take him on more 
trips when it's hot and he's expected to walk 20 miles/day: know what signs he 
makes when tired, and this is really, really tricky, because he is going to try 
to hide it.  Does his tail drop a little?  Does he stop running circles around 
you?  When he makes these signs you need to have the habit of stopping 
immediately and putting up a shade.

Technically you are allowed to have a dog within 50' of pavement of a national 
park, but road walking in a national park would really suck so here are a couple 
alternates I can recommend:

You might consider a detour through the Inyo National Forest instead of 
Sequoia/Kings Canyon and Yosemite.  The Inyo is on the eastern side of the 
Sierra and has many beautiful hiking options.  I love the Inyo!  Check out the 
Tom Harrison "Mono Divide" and "Mammoth High Country" mapsets.  You could also 
re-supply in Mammoth via exiting the Lakes Basin over Duck Pass instead of 
Devil's Postpile (a National Monument - dogs not welcome).  Maybe take a detour 
to Ivabell hot spring?  Going the Inyo route would also give you a resupply of 
Lee Vining (small grocery store, but well stocked and a couple of great cafes) 
as opposed to Tuolumne Meadows.  Avoid the western slope of the Sierra.  The San 
Joquin valley airshed is atrocious. 

Crater Lake shouldn't be too difficult to go around either, honestly, you could 
road walk the entire thing and still see the rim and have your dog stay at the 
car campground, but if you don't want to do that I would advise going the Rogue 
(west) side due to resupply options in Prospect (~9 miles off the PCT via the 
tom & jerry trail) and you could also possibly send a resupply package to 
Diamond Lake Resort on the north side (call first-they should be fine with it, 
but they get swamped if it's a busy fire season).  If it is a particularly dry 
year you could also walk the highway which would suck, but it would have river 
access almost the whole way.  There are some good layers on Google Earth you can 
look at for this.  Be especially careful of your water sources; the pumice rock 
is very porous and a lot of springs might not be running in August.

With a big dog, hitching might be a little rough.  Prepare for a lot of pickup 
bed rides.

Best,

EnviroPyro

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