Family Hike - dog included

Nothing like a 4 mile hike with the kids and dog on a beautiful day!

A few weeks ago, we decided to go to Lake Chabot for a hike to get all of us out of the house. We were up and ready and out of the house by 9am! A huge accomplishment for me these days - sleep has evaded me due to being anxious about the school year starting.

I have to give you a bit of back history on our sweet puppy, Mojo. He is the worst walking and running partner EVER! He walks and runs like a crab. I have twisted my ankles, stepped on his paws and tripped over him more times than I care to admit in the year and a half that we have had him. So, with that said, we decided to strap a dog pack to him to see if that made him a better walker. It worked!!! He definitely annoyed us less during this hike than he usually does.

We had water, snacks and tissues packed because we didn't have a set distance planned when heading out in the morning.

I have always loved going to Lake Chabot. I spent many days as a child there, went for countless walks there with my mom, ran with my brother when he had to train and then when we returned from Southern California I continued running there. I would typically go for 3-4 miles of hills there for two years before we moved out of the East Bay. Running there was always so peaceful and challenging. I also partially tore my quad there during a run while trying to avoid colliding with a young kid learning to ride his bike down hill. Lake Chabot helped me prepare for my first half marathon, the San Francisco Nike Half Marathon in 2015.

It was busy there but we maintained our distance from other walkers, runners and groups. It was only busy on the main path so we decided to take a trail and hike up for about two miles for more privacy. Kids loved it! No one complained they were tired or wanted to be carried. Little man usually tuckers out after a few miles but he plowed through the full 4 miles. They also didn't stop talking the whole time. Next time we will have to pick up the pace or find steeper hills!

We were at the bottom of the hill staring up at what is typically a small trickling creek but it was all dried up when I told the kids I wanted to be at the top of the hill looking down at where we were standing. Gideon shouted "That's going to take us 18 hours!". Sweet child! Little did he know it was going to take us less than 10 minutes to be at the top. I blew his mind when I pointed out our previous spot and how quickly we got there.

When we reached our car, they quickly asked to go back again. Looks like we will have to take them back. On our way home, we stopped by Val's for their famous burgers and fries - sadly they were not offering their amazing milkshakes.

Major benefit of the hike, Mojo was exhausted and slept most of the day and next. A tired puppy is a good puppy.

We are grateful for the parks that are still open for hiking and walks because we love being outdoors.