52 With a View hike #2 - Welch-Dickey Loop

Yesterday I ventured out to do my second hike from the 52 With a View list, this time the Welch-Dickey loop.  This one actually covers two peaks - Welch Mountain and Dickey Mountain.  The website says it is a 4.4 mile round-trip.  My Garmin registered over 5 miles.  It took me 5-1/2 hours.  I am old and slow, but I did it!

I took Zoey with me this time.  She is far more friendly, and definitely more agile and athletic than Penny.  She also wanted to go with me, and Penny most decidedly did not want to get in the car, so Zoey won.  With a bit of adjustment the pack fit adequately.

I found another hiker report recently, though, with reference to someone who creates custom-fit harnesses and dog packs.  If I ever get around to doing a long-distance hike with one of my dogs, I think I would definitely go with a custom fit, for the dog's comfort.  The packs are made by Groundbird Gear.

It was about an hour and a half drive to the trailhead.  Temps were very comfortable at the start, and it did not get uncomfortably hot at all - maybe because I was up in the mountains.  The first 1/3 or so of the trail is a truly delightful woods walk, past lots of water, in the trees, easy trail with some stone steps, rocks and roots.  The first set of views is when you emerge onto the Welch ledges.  On the way up I met a hiker with a dog named Max.

Max is a mix of Australian Shepherd, Chow and Corgi.  He was delightful!

Once we reached the ledges I stopped for pictures, and we met another dog - an 8 month old Springer Spaniel named Molly.

I thought I was at or near the top at that point, but I was very mistaken!  The next section of the hike continued with a lot of steep uphill - rock slabs, climbing giant boulders, and hoping that around the next corner was not another steep uphill slab!  (And it usually was.)  We finally reached the top of Walsh Mountain, and met a few other hikers.

From the top of Walsh, you can see across to Dickey.  There is no down from there without going over Dickey as well.  (At that point I was wishing for an elevator back to the parking lot.)  A couple of times I had to lift Zoey up by the harness onto some of the ledges and boulders, but for the most part she was really awesome.  This is from Dickey, looking back at the top of Walsh.

Dickie wasn't nearly as hard as Walsh, but was still mostly rock slab.  After that it was (mostly) down, back to the parking lot - still over 2 miles.  There were two brief boulder climbs on the way down.  We saw a few more people on the way back - they passed us on the descent.  (Did I mention I'm slow?)  We also saw quite a few cairns marking the trail on the way back.  My Fitbit recorded 17,000 steps and 134 flights of stairs.

I posted a brief scenic video taken from the Welch Mtn ledges to YouTube.  https://youtu.be/A9QVjEtNcXM

Now to plan the next hike!  I think it may be Mt Roberts, and I'm planning to get pictures of as many hiking dogs as I can!