Saoirse aced her test. She proved that she can be trusted to go up to the cabin, to help pull mommy up the steep sections on the way there, to stay in the camp while we are up there, and to walk off-lead on the way down without disappearing. Good girl! She knew what to do with only a few instructions, and she took it all very seriously. She might have had her service dog training interrupted by my second round of BC, but her devotion to me makes her a natural. By the end of her big adventure, she was super tired, and rode almost the whole way home with her chin resting on my shoulder, cheek to cheek with me. She's a keeper.
With all my challenges and new pastimes (being a grandma), I don't go to the cabin as much as I did a few years ago. But I make sure I go up at least once a year, kind of to touch base and score a run. It makes sense for me to go late in the season, when it is getting cooler and the sun is less intense. I get nice autumn pictures, and sometimes early winter ones. This year the leaves were past peak color, and mostly on the ground. I was fine with that. I mostly wanted the pictures to be of Saoirse, so I didn't need the aspens to be fully dressed.
We considered this my birthday trip, a few days early. Once at the top, the Mr presented me with a little toast, a locally produced whiskey. I told him I was getting the full cowboy experience: a campfire, Beans (Saoirse-Bean), and whiskey in a literal jelly jar. It was quite the lovely time, sitting on a quiet mountain, getting smoke in my eyes (and hair and clothes), sipping whiskey, and trying to hold still while hornets buzzed all around us. (Murray snapped at the spicy sky raisins, but I didn't move when they crawled on my fingers.)
I might be able to swing one more trip up there before the snows come, but if I don't, I am proud of myself for making the climb at least once this year.
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