May 25th Bonanza Flats adventure

Aloha Friday, I want to introduce my good friend Ian Hartley! He is looking to come on as a Schwaby Dogs pack leader in the very near future. He loves the outdoors as much as the dogs and I do and has great energy! Some of you may know him from White Pine Touring, that is where I met Ian and realized after working with his dogs that he would be an excellent fit for our school. Ian has been out with me a couple of times and the dogs dig him....So do I! I look forward to introducing him to you all in the next couple of weeks. We had an excellent adventure in Bonanza flats with Roxy, Zoey and Dryfus on this cloudy day that did not produce much rain while we were out there. Still a bunch of snow near the lakes below 10420 but the open field was beautiful with running streams and flowers popping up. Gotta love this spring folks!! Happy Memorial day to everyone. Peace...Schwaby

May 24th adventures Sweeney's and Two Fingers trails

Aloha, The porcupines are out, this is the third one in 10 days! All the dogs were curious but none of them got too close to the prickly fella, they all listened to their pack leader. "good dogs!" It's never fun for anyone when dogs get mixed up with these animals and that is why I am constantly working with my pack and teaching others to do the same. This guy was on the main ski run into town on our way to the Sweeney Switchbacks. Nice loop going clockwise from south Sweeney's to North Sweeney's! On the way back down we ran into two very young moose and it spooked me because I could not see mama, unless they were fresh out on there own, but I doubted that, so she had to be near by and I was not taking any chances and nether were the dogs. There were a few people on this hike as well and all the dogs in my pack were awesome!! Two Fingers was the adventure of choice in the afternoon and there was nobody. The scrub oak trees are really starting to bloom on this narrow trail that is great for hiking and is quite challenging on the mountain bike. Sweet views of the lake and a Perfect day! Life is GOOD! Schwaby

May 23rd Kya Marley hike

Aloha, Zoey was our solo dog today with my daughter Kya Marley and I. What a good hiker my bugs is, she is only 3 and we hiked up the rock quarry in Round Valley where a marmot family lives. We saw flowers one marmot and lots of rocks, kids love rocks!! Zoey has come a long way with the little people and Kya has helped greatly with that. Tip of the day- Teach your kids to let the dog come to them and introduce themselves (dog) and they will be good friends and your child will be much less likely to spook the dog or worse, be bitten. Rock on! Schwaby

May 22nd Daly and Summit Park adventures

Aloha, Welcome back Annie and Gracie and their owners Deb and Jeff, always awesome to have you all back in PC!! I thought it appropriate to hike in two of our all time favorite places to go for their first day back. Both girls were excited to see their old friends and some new ones and eased back into the pack like they had never left. With sunny skies and 75 degrees Daly with its water and shady trails was perfect. We started out on Trappers Gate up through Root Cellar on up Tour de Suds, (classic PC trail) onto Empire Link and ran down Daly Grind. Awesome!! For the second adventure we rallied out to Summit Park for some more higher altitude hiking in the beautiful forested and silky smooth trails. It is so cool out there and the dogs run wild. Not a lot of water but tons of shade and super fun trails. We ran into Jeff and his dog Chef who has to be Travis' dog Sammy's brother, they look identical, it was crazy, even Roxy thought Chef was Sammy!! What great energy today with Da Schwaby pack and having Annie and Gracie back made it that much better. Life is good. Peace..Schwaby

May 21st Deer Valley North side

Aloha, We had not been up to the Guard Road in awhile and wanted to see what the trails looked like after the snow melt. It was looking sweet with only a few snow patches on the main runs of the Mid Mountain, Road to Ruby (still moist) and Tour de Suds was looking good. We also hiked on Team Big Bear which is ready to go for everybody. We are just LOVING this spring!! Peace.. Schwaby

Aloha Friday, WET DOGS!! Another beautiful day, just in a different way. It drizzled on Roxy Zoey and I for most of our two hour adventure on the Mid Mountain trail in the Colony/Canyons section and it was so nice and peaceful and refreshing. We needed a good rain, the trails were getting dry too fast, it's amazing that the Mid Mountain trail is ready to go already! There were three pretty river crossings that were flowing nicely and only one small muddy section under this chairlift that we encountered, the pine needles are a good drying agent for the trails. We were all soaked and happy and all the plants and trees were too! What an awesome spring so far! Peace...Schwaby

May 17th Pinebrook adventure

Aloha, Pinebrook was the place to be on this gorgeous sunny and warm day. There are plenty of shady trees and a couple of small snow patches for the dogs to cool off in. We dig this area for the well maintained smooth trails and variety of routes to explore. The people are also very friendly that we meet which is always a bonus. Brooks joined us today, always nice to have a Donahue along for our adventure!! Starting off on the Spring trail up Jekyl and Hyde to Hunters Plaid and back down the same way making for a fun out and back. Great dogs today, everybody enjoyed one another and played well together. Life is good:) Peace...Schwaby

May 14th and 15th

Aloha, Summit Park is ready to ride and is excellent hiking. There is still a few snow patches but they are small and will be gone soon with this heat wave. Our adventure started out on the Short Stack trail over to the Road to Wos, up the Over Easy perimeter trail, with a stop at the warming hut for this fine photo. From there we headed up to the old WOS site and down the other side of the Over Easy, back on the Road to Wos and back home on the Short Stack. We never grow tired of this scenic and wooded trail of pure fun. I can't wait to ride it! Tuesdays hike was on Robs trail in Sun Peak with Roxy, Sasha, Josie, Delila Bear and Zoey. It was busy on this hike with bikers runners and people with dogs, not surprising, this is a super fun trail and very popular with locals and visitors alike. The trees are beautiful and the trails are in great shape. We went up to the Ambush trail that connects to Holly Flanders where we hit a nice pond fed by melting snow. Sorry for the lack of pictures, I spaced the camera on this fine day and was really bummed. Great dogs and beautiful weather! Peace....Schwaby

May 9th adventures to Daly Canyon & Lost Prospector

Aloha, It feels like summer in May....Crazy!! We are experiencing a heat wave and it feels good for now. Daly still has water, nothing compared to 2011, but we are grateful for the dry trails and fun spring conditions. Town loop to King road over to grave digger and back down through Root Cellar and finishing on the Trappers gate trail. Nice loop dudes!! Our second hike was fast and fun on the Gamble Oak trail up the power line steep climb onto Masonic and back on the Lost Prospector trail to the truck. Great day before my trip to Oregon and Washington which was amazing!! Peace. Schwaby

Aloha, Beautiful day on the Solamere loop/Gap trail, where we ran into Sasha's and Josie's mama and they had no idea it was her so we moved right along and almost ran into her again a few minutes later but we sneeked away and all was good. Our Second hike of the day was up Iron canyon that was nice but muddy in the usual spot about 25 minutes up so we turned around, sat in the Aspens for awhile then had a leisurely stroll down. What a great day... Peace. Schwaby

April 7th adventures

Todays route-Sweeneys-South Sweeney's-420-Johns-Flat Cable trail.

Aloha, Daly, Daly Daly.....It never gets old and we see more moose there than anywhere else and always a different route to travel. You gotta love it babe!! We have yet to tire of this incredible place. Plenty of snow still but not for long, and we will be riding high very soon. Peace...Schwaby

May 3rd adventure

Aloha, Mormon Flats is a place to go when you need water and there was plenty of it today. I was pleasantly surprised that it was not flooded and the hike was quite scenic, green and a flowing stream the whole way. The beavers have been busy!! There seems to be more ponds this year and the upper trail past mile marker 2 was full of water in sections, the scouts will be busy and I hope to see more bridges built because this place seems to change every spring and always needs a lot of work. Lots of water makes for happy dogs!! Life is good. Schwaby

May 2nd adventure

Aloha, Roxy and Dryfus have become close buddies and we always have fun and cool outings. Today was no exception, hiking on the dry trails of Solamere which seems to be the theme so far this year, was spring like and wonderful. We need a good long summer after a winter like that wouldn't you agree? Peace. Michael

May 1st porcupine adventure and Round Valley adventures

Aloha, Porcupines....they sure are cute and can cause a nosey dog some real discomfort. Unfortunately little miss Josie was on the losing end of one of these guys up on the guard road. I may have cursed myself chasing down another cute little guy after he crossed the road earlier that day, I just wanted to get a picture of his face!! His cousin made me pay and Josie got the worst of it. I only had pics of the critters because this happened half way through the hike. Lesson learned? I hope Josie learned, she had a bunch of quills and we ended up at the vet to get the ones in her mouth out after I pulled all 20+ from her snout. They are out there folks so keep your dogs close and teach them good recall so this doesn't happen to you. Round Valley for our second hike was nice and quiet with this lazy moose having no worries about the dogs, these guys I really don't worry about and are always a welcome sight. Round valley is very dry and awesome to hike and bike so get out there and play!! Live Strong. Michael