An Autumn High Alpine Swim

Yesterday, we did a long-standing tradition - visiting a special lake where every one of our dogs has swum except the one who died before we moved to Colorado.

The lake is off-trail, and it doesn't appear on any maps. It's in a popular area but there is never another soul near the lake, except wildlife, of course. We love this spot. We call it "Dog Leap Lake".

I realized that this was Shyla's 4th attendance at our annual autumn swim in this lake. My, how time flies!

And it must have been R's 8th autumn swim here. He is no less enthusiastic now than when he was a puppy!

Because we did this outing very late in autumn this year, the water was cold! The Duo spent a lot of time running around and playing on the tundra.

I love the autumn color of the tundra. It's so vibrant and rich. Very soon, it will be snow-covered.

This is a great activity for R's elbow. Swimming is great PT and the tundra is soft that it's not very jarring to his elbow when he runs.

For a dog who was once dubbed as having little drive for retrieving, Shyla sure is intense about it now! Waiting for the throw...

Launching herself to fetch the ball...

Sprinting back to the Runner to give him the ball...

R is the master of over-the-top intensity so he always retrieves the first ball thrown while Shyla waits for the second ball that the Runner throws.

After about a half hour, we had to call it a day when R started shivering so hard that we could see it from 20 yards away. I think that water was cold! The dogs shook off, and we were on our way. They warmed up quickly as we hiked.

I love having traditions like this one. I think we missed our autumn trip to this lake only once. That year, our elderly yellow Lab, S, couldn't do the off-trail part of the hike. So we all sat by an easily accessible lake and enjoyed the views.

I think that traditions like these help me to remember how fast time goes by. Each day is as precious as the one when we visit Dog Leap Lake. It can be hard to remember that each day is a gift, especially when faced with the trials and tribulations of life, but I try!