Dashing through the snow ...

Well, today was the day. With Piper cleared for regular exercise (and wired for sound), I put on my new boots, popped her in the car, and we headed up to Rockwood Park.

It was a gorgeous day -- clear and sunny, with just enough snow on the trees to make me momentarily forget my stance on winter.

Because the usual gate to the Bark Park was locked (and will presumably stay that way for the next few months) and because I'd heard about some people walking down through the children's playground to get there in winter, we headed up that way. The parking lot by the playground was ploughed, but it looked like people had been simply trudging through the knee-deep snow to get to the playground. I drove a little further, to the "loop" by the entrance to the Trans-Canada Trail, and lo! There was a pathway ploughed and it looked like we had hit the jackpot.

Sadly, the beach was closed to swimming (as the lifeguards had all gone home), so we continued trudging along. But we hadn't gone too much further when we discovered that the nice ploughed track suddenly gave way to what looked like a rough sweep by a tractor.

Since Piper had already caught on to where we were, she was picking up the pace, so turning back was not an option. Besides, I was seeing Rockwood Park in a whole new light. Not only did we have the place pretty much to ourselves, but there was unbroken, gleaming snow in almost every direction. It was beautiful.

Finally, after much slipping and sliding in the tractor tracks, we got to the Bark Park. We were, as I'd anticipated, the only ones there, but Piper didn't seem to care. It had been two weeks since she'd been there, and that clearly had been long enough. Once inside the gates, she took off like a shot -- in spite of the fact that the snow was as deep or deeper as her legs were tall!




We stayed in the Bark Park for half an hour or so, and we were heading back to the car when we bumped into Piper's friend Charlie, and his mom, who were heading down. Since Piper had been without her buddies for so long, we naturally turned around and went back with them.

I can't get over how much Piper likes the snow. I'm starting to wonder if she's a reincarnated Husky or something, because she's just nuts about the stuff.

By the time we actually got home, we'd been about an hour and a half at the park, including the walk to and from the car. Piper was pooped, which was good, because I was finding the walk back even harder. (As I sit here typing this, I can feel the aches beginning in my legs and backside -- "snow-walking" muscles that haven't seen this much use since 1975!)

But I have a very content puppy, and I'm sure I'll sleep well tonight -- even if I do walk funny in the morning.