<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div>I hiked the Colorado Trail with a dog once, and it was a great experience. He carried all his own stuff - food, bowl, and water.<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> Being the hippie I am, I let the dog run loose the first few days. He got exhausted way before I did. Then I started leashing him and he was able to outlast me. IMO, dogs use 2-3 times as much energy when unleashed as when leashed. They run up the trail, back to you, up the hill after a chipmunk, wherever. I think you will be much more successful if you keep the dog on a leash, as it will greatly reduce the wear and tear on your pet. </span></div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Another thing to consider - coyotes and mountain lions are famous for eating pets - for them they are a delicacy. </span></div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">best wishes,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Jerry Brown<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><font color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="tel:(970)%20403-3527" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-type="telephone" x-apple-data-detectors-result="0/1">(970) 403-3527</a> Cell: <a href="tel:(970)%20317-1398" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-type="telephone" x-apple-data-detectors-result="0/2">(970) 317-1398</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><font color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="mailto:bearcreek.gis@gmail.com">bearcreek.gis@gmail.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><font color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="x-apple-msg-load://90484561-CB5D-417D-B4C3-D669FCB3B7B8/www.bearcreeksurvey.com">www.bearcreeksurvey.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </o:p></p></div><div><br>On Jan 23, 2016, at 8:16 PM, Charlie Thorpe <<a href="mailto:charliethorpe@att.net">charliethorpe@att.net</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><span>) high percentage of the dogs I have met on the long trails simply should have not been there. </span><br><span></span><br><span>Virtually all of these dogs indicated strongly that they wanted to be with their human on the hike...they definitely were NOT being drug down the trail. That wasn't it.</span><br><span></span><br><span>Some should have stayed home because they weren't physically suited for a long hike. Some should have stayed home because they exhibited behaviors that made it unpleasant for other hikers to be around them. Almost all of their humans didn't want to keep them confined by a leash...and many of those dogs should have stayed home because very few (VERY few) of them had the training/conditioning required to allow them to be off-leash and not interact adversely with local wildlife.</span><br><span></span><br><span>A few seemed to be having the time of their life and were totally capable of out-hiking their human while carrying their own food and water. IMHO, orthopedic surgeons can be really nice people and they really come in handy sometimes, but personally I would get the advice of an expert dog vet who has worked with distance hiking dogs to see how reasonable it is for your canine partner to carry more of their own weight. My hunch is that the pup might need to stay home if too fragile to at least hump their own food and water.</span><br><span></span><br><span>Water -</span><br><span></span><br><span>You mentioned one gallon of water for you and the dog for seven days. That seems really (really, Really, REALLY!) low to me, even in freezing weather. Everybody is different, but my own experience with older Scouts (male and female) and other scruffy distance hikers leads me to plan at least one liter of water for every 5 trail miles with at least one liter per day extra to burn up during cooked meal stops. Sometimes more during really hot weather and sometimes less during freezing temps, but I don't recall ever getting by with one gallon for seven days, even without the dog.</span><br><span></span><br><span>I am curious if other hikers here on CDT-L carry just one gallon of water for seven days?</span><br><span></span><br></div></blockquote></body></html>