First Footing

In Scotland, it's tradition to do a "first-footing"on New Year's day. This originally involved heading to your neighbor's homes to trade food and well-wishes right after midnight. Katie and I have tried to celebrate this each year, but with a little different spin.

Every New Year's day (at least we try to do it every year!) Katie and I go hiking to celebrate first-footing. This year, being in a new state and a completely new ecosystem, we were dedicated to go on our hike. It was cold...probably mid-30's. But we were well bundled, and Kingsley came along. Here are some pictures.

Katie and Kingsley at the Chubb Trailhead. It was a beautiful day, despite the chill.


We didn't hike the whole trail, because it would have ended up being 14 miles, and it was just too cold. But we ended up hiking to the midway point.



What a cute couple...or that's what our camera says at least :)


OK, so funny story here. Kingsley really likes to go nucking futs when we hike, and he doesn't really pay attention to where he's going. I was on the edge of this dropoff which was about 10-15 feet tall. Kinglsey came running at me full steam, and didn't see it. In slow motion, Kingsley went sailing off the edge to complete a triple lutz with a twist. But at least he broke his fall with his face. I was certain he had broke a leg or something when I saw him sail off the edge, and I'd have to carry a 45 lb dog 4 miles back to the trailhead. Luckily he has a hard face (or soft, I don't really know physics) because he bounced right back up and then tried to run up the 10-15 foot dropoff, only to do a backflip back down when he realized the concept of gravity. For a second, I think he was in looney tunes, because he seemed to not fall until he realized he was in the air... Anyway, this is a picture of the cliff he went off... Trust me, much more impressive in person :)


Part of the trail went along the Meramec River. Apparently, "sail trips" are just as popular as backpacking here...may have to give that a try!


Dirty dirty boy...no Orbitz will clean you up. But, this is actually clean for "post-hike Kingsley".


So I realize that other people may not think our dog is as cute as we think he is, but it's sure darn cute when he is dead tired after a long day of hiking. He goes directly for the pillows...