Given the fact Border Collies are basically small nuclear reactors of energy, missing out on long runs fetching tennis balls shows up one way or another. So Loki spent the day raising hell with Kai.
Loki gives Kai a quick lesson on puppy manners but Kai is too fast for Loki for the lesson to sink in.
It's a funny proposition that Loki, who is just over two, is supposed to be the responsible dog in comparison to our puppy who is 11 weeks. They are both teenagers, more or less, in dog terms and they rough house like them also. So they spent most of the day breaking things and ripping apart stuff animals. Kai is still too young to go out in the woods with me but all this horseplay is a form of training. I hope..
The Teddy Bear bears the brunt of it from two bored Border Collies.
Loki Presents the mangled Teddy Bear to me for my inspection and approval.
But before the rains came, I did manage to do the second section of the Cabin John Trail walks and this trail is one of my favorites. It was the first of the hidden walks my wife, Sarah, and I found and we've been up and down it so often, Loki knows each cut in the fifteen foot creek embankment where he can race down to the water.
One of Loki's favorite spots where he can really unwind his speed in the shallows.
Loki rides in the cargo area of the CRV with his front paws over the back seat. I'm pretty sure he knows many of the routes we take to various walks because when we get close to a turn off, he'll start wagging his tail. Certainly once we are out of the car, he will race for the trail entrance and wait for us slow pokes to catch up. As we meander up the trail, he keeps 30 to 40 feet ahead, always stopping and turning to see 1) we're still keeping up and 2) whether we are about to throw a tennis ball.
Sounds silly, but this is really essence of an urban/suburban trail dog. Loki ignores pretty much all other distractions including other dogs and deer so we don't have to worry about him running off on his own. But, of course, it wasn't always this way. At age 6 months, Loki was the equivalent of a juvenile delinquent and it took a month long effort to get him trained up to the point where he could be let off a leash in the woods, or, for that matter, even walk on a leash.
What better place to cool down between throws than the creek itself.
But the pay off is huge. With Loki keeping pace with me and ignoring distractions, I can spend more time looking at what this section of trail, one of the most lush that I know of, has to offer.
Ferns galore.
The biggest mystery though is the resident beaver about half way through the walk. Cabin John Creek floods violently during summer rain storms and no beaver dam is going to stand up to it. As many times as I have been through the area, I haven't been able to figure out where the beaver lives although a hole and the base of a toppled tree seems like a good bet. Along both sides of the trail are the stumps of small trees the beaver has chewed through and a few larger ones he is working on.
This beech has been thoroughly gnawed.
Now, I was always taught that if you girdled a tree, it would naturally die off but this tree, sprouted a full canopy of green leaves this spring and is none the worse for wear.
Practical information: Drive out River Road past the junction with Seven Locks Road. Parking is in the unmarked dirt area immediately before the bridge over Cabin John Creek. The trail is 1.2 miles to Bradley Boulevard and has a couple of hills at the beginning and long easy hill at the end.
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