Dog Mountain: Back to Hiking in Baby Steps

When our new baby boy Neil was just over a month old, we decided that it was time to get back into outdoor activities. We heard about Dog Mountain a while ago, and it was always on our list when a short and not too strenuous hike was in order, but we never got around to going there. This seemed like the perfect opportunity.

We drove to Mt. Seymour ski area not too early (i.e. 2pm). The sight was a bit sad. Like the rest of the local ski hills, Mt. Seymour has been closed for most of this season due to a lack of snow. Is this the future of the ski resorts in our area – are they just going to become memorial sites to what life used to be like before global warming?

The trail was very muddy and had many exposed and slippery roots all around. Gili carried Neil, who was busy sleeping the whole time. The weather was a bit on the gray side and at one point it started hailing but just for a short while. Then it drizzled on and off till we got to the summit. We found a protected area in the trees to have lunch and then woke up Neil so he could eat too. It was my first time feeding Neil in nature and it worked out quite well.

We took a few photos on the summit (Neil’s first!) and a few people were quite impressed that such a young baby already climbed a mountain. The sun also came out for a bit and we had great views of our fabulous city just below us, and the faraway mountains of the Olympic Peninsula.

Then we started hiking back, first like we came up but at First Lake we took another trail and went back a different way. It made the hike a bit longer, gaining a bit more elevation and hitting real snow (yes, snow!). But pretty quickly we were back on the gravel road that led us down to the parking lot and to our car. I fed Neil again in the car and we discovered that his hands and feet were cold, but otherwise he was fine. He didn’t complain much, so it didn’t seem like too big of a problem, but we took note: dress babies a bit warmer on those areas.

We drove back home with Neil sleeping all the way back. All in all it is was a great hike to introduce Neil to the mountains and hopefully we’ll have many more adventures with him in the future.