When you start hiking, you never want to start with the hardest trail. Start small, start easy, and start smart. The last thing you want is an injury in the woods! Well, just like you condition your body for the trail, your pup needs to be conditioned to!
Taking a dog on a hiking trail when they have never hiked before and are used to a lackadaisical day around home is a recipe for disaster. Like you, your pup may get cramps or tear ligaments. Rolled ankles, anyone? How about sprained paws! It’s not fun. Before we hit the trail we loaded up with some snacks, water and bowl, and some doggy bags. A small pack for the necessities and we were off!
Skye has done some trail hiking and snowshoeing, but she is not yet conditioned for a full trail. Because she was so timid, we started extremely slowly with her. We are now starting to really work on conditioning her little body to take on rougher terrains!
As her first technical trail hike, we chose a local loop – Pinnacle Creek Ravine. This trail is a 1.6km loop trail in Coquitlam, BC. It is not a popular trail as it is not a marked or easy to follow trail. It is located in an area that is very residential and also home to a few predators.
We started out in someone’s driveway – I did say it was residential! We spoke with the home owner, who had no idea the trail was even there. Apparently, it’s a hidden gem! She offered us a parking spot to go explore, and off we went.
The trail head is not one I typically would expect. When there is a trail, you don’t expect to see a sign that states no trail building. But that’s exactly what the marker is. This is your only marker, by the way.
The trail begins with a steep incline right off the bat! There is an elevation gain of 52m on this trail, making it a good challenge without being difficult. The 52m is pretty steep on a 1.6km loop, but it also means the ups and downs are frequently interspersed.
Up and up and up, you go. I think this initial incline is about half the 52m we were expecting. Start off with the hard stuff! We hoofed it up to a flat open space and took off into the woods. Selecting a trail that has more challenge but is a bit shorter (this is a 30-40 minutes loop), helps use different muscles without exhausting you or your dog. The easier the trail becomes, the more challenge you are ready for on the next one! Pinnacle offered Skye and I all sorts of terrain to test ourselves on. It even tested our navigation skills!
The trail is not marked – at all – and is quite narrow. The brush is full and thick as you wander through the woods. We wrapped up around some old growth trees, and little Missy Girl Skye was a motoring! She has this nose for trails that is just amazing. She’ll take you on a trek through the woods and right back to your truck!
We trekked our way up and up again and then took a sharp down turn towards more brush. We passed several mossy trees resembling something out of Jurassic park! The old growth in forests lend themselves to a fairy tale, making this little hike a magical one. Each of the inclines boasts a new set of “steps” – from man-made dirt steps, to exposed natural root stairs. There are even sections of just straight up dirt inclines.
Skye lead the way most of this hike. And it is a hike. This was not a walk in a park. The trail, or goat trail in most spaces, narrows considerably throughout most of the woods. At times you are hiking through a space of about 10 inches wide with a drop off on one side.
Skye ventured quickly through the trail – she didn’t struggle at all in the tight spaces. Me however, I kept calling for her to slow down!
About 20 minutes into the hike there is this beautiful babbling. The creek, crystal clear, and free flowing through the ravine. There is a steep and overgrown section that leads down to the rocky bed, the mud before you hit the rock is quite deep. Thankfully I didn’t skid into it too far! Skye’s paws were not white anymore. They were black with mud. I was dreading putting her in the truck at this point (I forgot the baby wipes to clean her paws at home!).
We stopped at the creek bed and treaded through the little creek a bit, cleaning paws and shoes from the muck. The creek is not deep by any stretch of your imagination. Nor is it wide. Stretching maybe 3 feet across at the widest space, and 6 inches deep in the deepest. Landing rocks are large enough to keep your feet dry as you cross, though I would still suggest waterproof shoes or a trekking sandal.
Now, when I say the trail is not marked – I really do mean no markings. We were at the creek crossing and for the life of us, could not find the trail on the other side! Even Skye’s nose was failing us here. The All Trails app however was our savior today! All Trails doesn’t have the best directions on this trail, but it is amazing to keep yourself orientated.
The All Trails map showed the creek and the trail going UP the creek bed. Learning what limits are to your maps can save you time later when your on the trail. The All Trails maps don’t give you step by step directions (at least not the free one!). What it does do is give you a general direction to walk in and indicates EXACTLY where you are on the trail – within a few steps is what we have found. So we opened our all and saw a line up the waterway on the map from our location. And there, on the side of the creek, about 5 feet up from where we came out on the other side – the trail!
Overgrown and crowded with brush. You cannot see the trail itself at the creek, but about 3 feet ahead, there is trail! Up we went again. Except this time, we knew we were half way! This was the very tip of the loop!
As we walked up we came across a large fallen tree, covered in moss and aged growth. This tree was HUGE! Standing next to the trunk and it curved at my shoulders. Well, it was a perfect time to test out Skye and some height! No sooner had her feet touched tree and she was off…all the way to the other end of the tree. Its a looooooong tree!
I had to call her back. See that little bit of dirt to the right of the tree? That the trail. And believe it or not, the trail eventually wraps underneath that fallen giant! There is a 3.5 foot space to crouch under to continue, otherwise you have to hop over the 4 ft high tree trunk….plus the 3.5ft gap under it!
Once under the tree, the trails stays narrow but consistent. You have about a foot width for your feet from this point till the end. And the mud? Well that was only around the 2 creek crossings we found. What you definitely have is some muddy and scratch legs from the ferns and underbrush that has invaded the pathway.
We were lucky on our hike to find a few song birds in the trees. Mosquitos were plentiful but only one bite coming home (and I completely forgot the repellant!). While we didn’t expect an easy trail, we were pleasantly surprised by the technicality of the hidden gem.
As a moderately challenging, conditioning trail – this was perfect!
Skye is working her way up to more challenging and longer hikes – and so am I! As we get out more, the more our joints, ligaments, and tendons strengthen. The risk of injury reduces as we train for those more technical and longer trails. And we get to explore local sights!
This trail being 20 minutes from our front door and only an hour – if we are slow – to complete, makes it a perfect busy weekend adventure. Maybe next time we will take a little chair and have lunch at the creek!
Now, while I know Skye was comfortable with this moderately challenging trail. This is also not an everyday activity for her yet. We started slowly with her because of how timid and scared she was when we brought her home. Now that she has some confidence, we are expanding her world one trail at a time! We are working on trail manners, no chasing of wildlife, and wandering. Her physical ability is present because of what she is. Her breed is known for going to some crazy places and distances! But little miss is a pampered girl, too. You need to ensure your dog is trained and strong, just like you do for yourself at the gym, before you hit the real big trails!
We learned a little about limits to our navigation skills. We also learned that All Trails locations are pretty damn accurate! All Trails really did make this trail manageable. Had we not had the map, there is no way I would have found the trails in most places. Skye’s nose was great, but when it came to the creek, all her smells went downstream, and we needed to go upstream. Had we followed her nose, the creek would have led us back to the road, but it would have been pretty wet.
We have used All Trails before, and we were just sort of okay with it. Its a great reference tool for trail locating and the reviews tell you exactly what you are getting into! Don’t be fooled by their “easy” titles, most trails start at Moderate when you read up on them.
Take a chance and explore a local trail yourself this weekend! Be an adventurer in your backyard!
ASR Adventures 