Vacation 2011, Day 4: Mandelwände

From 9/13/11

Today was going to be another very stable day, weather wise speaking. So I thought it would be a great idea to take Daisy for a hike along the 'Mandelwänxe'. The hike from Arthur Haus to Erich Hütte is about 3 hours long and my parents decided to join me. We decided that hiking from Arthur Haus to Erich Hütte would be the better idea, since you don't have to catch a bus at the end of the hike. So we left at about 8.45 am and drove to 'Dientner Sattel' to catch the bus to Arthur Haus. This was also Daisy's first time of ever driving with a bus...at least as far as I know. Everything was cool until the bus arrived. She gave that big yellow thing an odd look. She probably was thinking: "I'm not sure if I'm going to like that thing". But for most part she was fine and waited very patiently. People boarding the bus and a lot of people also leaving the bus at the rear entrance, well that started to freak Daisy a little out. One guy came a little too close for her comfort with his hiking poles and so Daisy barked at him once. As far as I'm concerned she had every right to do so. Other than that there was no issue at all. We boarded the bus and found a spot and for Daisy it was the most natural thing in the world, as if she had been riding busses her whole life long.  About 45 minutes we arrived at Arthur Haus and breakfast there. After that we left and started to walk in the direction of Erich Hütte. The trail is quite easy without any technical difficulties. The trail is mostly even, but of course you have to walk out each and every creek. About 1 hour into the hike we got to a place called 'Vierhütten' and had a quick lunch break there. Daisy was chillin' under the table. We continued with the hike and the closer you get to 'Birgkar' the more creeks you have to walk out and the deeper the gullies become. On the way there we passed by lots and lots of free roaming cattle and Daisy got way more confident with the cattle and sniffed and checked out several of them. Apparently that's something that has to be hardwired into the DNA of a cattledog. Once we reached the 'Birgkar' we took a short break and again Daisy was drinking out of a creek. I knew that we had roughly completed 2/3's of the hike. We continued and had to deal with the more muddy part of the trail. Luckily they put logs over the worst parts. For most parts Daisy followed my lead and walked over the logs. But with some parts she just walked through the mud. It amazes me every single time, that in no time a completely muddy dog paw is clean again. If they only could apply that technique to my hiking boots! By about 4.30 pm we had made it to Erich Hütte and stopped there for drinks. Daisy drank a little from her water bowl, was chillin' under the table and then falling asleep. After we had relaxed a little we walked back to the car. On the way down we encountered another herd of cattle. One of the cows tried to give Daisy a sniff...but my cowdog was completely oblivious to that and got spooked. Once she realized that it was only a cow she gave the cow nose a sniff and checked the cow out for a little while. It definitely was a great hike with lots of great and interesting experiences for Daisy!!