Canicross Hike; Forestville State Park

Phoenix crossing the bridge over the South Branch of the Root River.

Fascinated by the horses.

Melanie and Annie at the Big Spring.

Chris and Frankie making a successful creek crossing.

Hey, what's wrong with this picture?
Lily deciding that Sara should be the one in the water. She'll stick to the rocks.

Today's Points Unknown Canicross Hike was held at Forestville State Park. The temperature was 74 degrees with low humidity. There were blue skies with big fluffy white clouds. It was a beautiful day for a hike!

This park is known as an excellent equestrian destination so we knew we would have some very good chances for "on-by" training. The hike began with a relatively steep downhill grade then leveled off once we crossed the South Branch of the Root River and remained level most of the hike. There was a bridge for our first water crossing. Little did we know that on our hike to the Big Spring we would encounter several creek crossings designed more for our equestrian friends than for people with dogs attached to them. Being as this is a karst region and the creeks are fed by springs and run underground at times in the numerous cave areas, the water was a brisk 48 degrees F. As you might imagine, the dogs loved the cool water break. Their human counterparts, that may have ended up in the water unexpectedly, may have thought otherwise.

Once at the Big Spring and at the end of the first leg of our 4 mile trail, we took a long break as the dogs played in the water and we watched as the horses were lead into creek. Then it was 2 miles back on the same trail. We were able to progress to practicing moving "on-bys" as several groups of horse and riders passed us head on, versus doing stopped "on-bys" as we did on the way in.

I think its safe to say that fun was had by all, including those unexpectedly dumped into the "drink" during our challenging creek crossings.