Heather Lake - still too cold for a swim

My sister, Rose, and her gorgeous dog, Odin, came to visit this week and I took a day off so we could get in a hike.  We picked Heather Lake because I knew there was a lot of water and snow still for Odin to play in.

The last bit of the hike was buried in snow still, which I knew, but I didn't know how difficult it would be to tell exactly which trail across the snow to follow.  I think we meandered a little, as did whoever left the footprints we were following, but we knew where we wanted to end up, and came out right by the little boardwalk bridge over Heather Creek.  There are some logs jammed up there and I thought it would be fun to walk out on them to take a couple pictures.

Adventure Dog decided to follow.  He enjoys walking on logs anyway.  Unfortunately, he also decided that the solid appearance of some reeds covering the water next to the log would be a good thing to stand on.  Rose shouted that he'd fallen in about the time I started to hear splashing.  He was doing an inefficient doggy paddle trying to get back onto the log with no success.  I made a couple of grabs and finally hauled in a soggy doggy.  With all the snow around it was a bit cold, so I was trying to dry him off a little when I heard another splash.  Odin had seen Cedar go in and went in in the exact same spot to "check out the swimming hole."  The look on his face when he realized it was deeper, colder, and harder to get out of then he thought was pretty priceless.  Rose leaped out onto the log to pull him in (all 130 lbs of him) and dropped his leash in the water, which started floating downstream.  I saw that with Odin's lunging she was managing to get him out, so I made a dive for the bridge and tried to catch the leash as it came out the other side.  I missed by about a half inch.  I was pretty sure it was a goner, but then it abruptly ended its career as a boat and sank to the bottom.  I grabbed a trekking pole and after a couple tries managed to fish it out.  Of course, 2 of the very few people we saw on the trail happened to emerge onto the boardwalk at the beginning of this and now they were standing there trying not to laugh, we were standing there feeling a bit embarrassed, and the dogs were standing there looking sheepish and cold.  We retreated elsewhere for our lunch.

The rest of the hike was uneventful and pretty.  I think it was one Adventure Dog and I will remember and laugh about for a long time.  : )