Beckler Peak Hike Doggie Adventure

I was introduced to Beckler Peak over the holiday.   This is a great hike off of Hwy 2.   You take Forest Service Road 6066 left 1.9 miles past the Skykomish Ranger Station.   The trail head is 6.5 miles up a gravel road that is pocked with deep potholes but you can steer around them.   The hike itself is just under 4 miles each way starting at an elevation above 2700 feet and climbs to about 5100 feet.

We decided to do this Saturday, July 2.   Considering that’s smack in the middle of the Independence Day holiday weekend I was pleasantly surprised to find the traffic good and the parking area only mostly full.   The weather was low sixties with broken clouds, perfect for a day hike.   We had the two big dogs, Jack and Bear, with us and they carried their own food and water.   In fact, they carried the human food too. :-)

Bear and Jack on the hike

The hike has a decent ascent rate but since we are in pretty good running shape it wasn’t difficult. we made the summit in about 90 minutes.   So even though we left the house after 9:00, stopped at Starbucks, drove most of the way to Stevens Pass, and 6.5 miles up a dirt road, we were on the summit at noon.   That was pretty good.   The dogs did very well going up.   I was impressed that Jack, who has a nickname of “1 mile Jack” did so well.   But at the summit you could see the exhaustion.

We took some great photos and fed the dogs some treats and water.   And then some water.   And more water.   Okay, they turned out to be pretty wasted.   They wouldn’t touch the regular dog food and Jack wouldn’t eat the treats, but Bear would.

Mt Index from Beckler Peak

Coming down we were really flying around 14-15 minutes a mile.   But them with about a mile to go Jack sat down.   I mean he just sat down!   With some coaxing and water we got him down to a stream where both dogs took in some cold water.  Hopefully no giardia.   Then there was another stream and Jack was about to just plain sit in it.   After a couple more sit-downs where we let Jack rest we made it to where a stream has washed out the trail indicating we had less than half a mile to go.   But immediately after climbing out of the washout Jack sat down.   This time was different.   I tried pulling him but he literally fell on his side so that I dragged him a couple feet. Hmm, this dog weighs over a hundred pounds.   I tried lifting him with his backpack handle and helping him walk, but no he just crumpled down.   What to do?   I was contemplating lifting him up and putting him on my shoulders.   About that time a group we had recently passed came by with their little dog named Scout.   I think that did not sit well with the dogs.   Eventually Karen came up with idea to give them some cheese and that did the trick.   Jack had just enough energy to pick himself up and continue.

When we reached the car both dogs fell onto the carpet in a heap.   We kept giving them water and had the air on.   Traffic was good for the drive back.   Since it was only Saturday the usual bad traffic through Gold Bar and Sultan was not to be found.   When we got home I expected the dogs to be ravenous but they weren’t.   In fact Jack didn’t care to eat.   Karen had some doggie meds from a previous post trail experience so she wrapped them in cheese and they decided that was worthy of the effort to eat.   But these meds are really just herbal solutions, no good non steroidal analgesics because dogs can’t have them.   So they were both sore, looking like they were 15 rather than 5.

Sunday morning I noticed Bear incessantly licking his pad of his foot. When I looked to inspect I touched a real sore spot and realized that pad was worn all the way through.   Poor guy.   He crawled away from me and basically didn’t want me to do that again. In the afternoon I gave Jack a deep massage all over his elbows, shoulders, and his lower leg ligaments.   He moaned with delight.   But now even today he is coming every couple hours to get me to rub him down some more.   Hey, hold on here.   I think he is taking advantage of my good will.

Saturday and Sunday night they did not sleep in their regular bed, but on the floor of the master bedroom under the ceiling fan.   But then Monday night came and so did the fireworks.   I found them huddled in Karen’s walk-in closet in the dark in the early afternoon.   They sat with us in the family room with the TV on and that seem to calm them.   But we have some idiot neighbors with serious big bang crackers.   Boomers!  So again Monday night the dogs were back in the bedroom.   Sometime early morning I escorted them back to their beds and thankfully they slept there last night.

After the hike Jack refused to eat anything but treats.   And then by Sunday afternoon Bear was no longer eating dog food.   Oh, oh. We had spoiled the dogs in just a day!   So we went cold turkey, no treats, no licking our plates.   Nothing but dog food in their dishes.   Good news is that by Tuesday they were back to accepting the regular food on the regular schedule.   Phew, that was close.

It’s good to get out.   Funny, on Monday the 4th, we decided to walk to the Edmonds parade downtown.   That’s about 3 miles each way and the dogs sensed it and wanted to come.   Hey dudes, you can hardly walk!   So, it wasn’t hard for them to take “not this time” as an answer.   Anyway, it was a good parade and we stopped at Rory’s for a burger.

So my story about a hike is really a story about a couple big dogs and their exciting weekend.   They’re both sacked out now…