Crust Cruisin' with Skye

Meet Skye, the runaway  husky who got permission to ski with us today.


Here is the story:
7:45 am: Cindy and I were headed up to Glen Alps for an early day of crust cruising. On the drive up there we saw a Husky running down the road, away from Glen Alps. As always my heart sank.
"Oh no, a dog that is lost and has been out all night?" It looked confused as we past her. In the rear view mirror we saw her  move to the middle of the road and she looked at us as if to say "Are you my mommy?"


We kept driving.
If I was driving, she would have been in my car. No offense to my friend Cindy but she has cats and I was not about to ask her to pull over and get wrapped up in my emotional reactions to all dogs wandering on road sides. We were up in the park, so it was not like there was a highway nearby...but...my heart was still aching.


We got to Glen Alps and we were the first ones in a usually PACKED parking lot.
We put on the skate skis and headed out the high trail to the power line and then off to Williwaw Lakes.


As  we got the high spot on the power line ALL OF THE SUDDEN....THE  Husky appears- tongue hanging out and looking ready for an adventure. My mind was confused. A stray lost dog?possibly out over night? (it was only 8 a.m.)  and no one was around? And now it wanted to join us?


I just breathed...a few deep breaths
and tried not to "write the script" and worry about a bunch of things  I couldn't control.


At the creek she came close to me as I was eating my almonds and I saw she had a tag on her collar.
Cindy had a cell phone.
I offered a few almonds to "SKYE" and we called the number on the tag.


We said to the man who answered the phone:
"Umm, we are skiing out to williwaw lakes and found your dog, or your dog found us? We have her here on the trail. She actually followed our car for half the drive up."
The man on the phone  and  the children in the background sounded very nice. He said "Oh she will find her way home. No worries. Is she bothering you? If not, she is fine"


 "WHAT?" from a person who gets concerned when her Labs are out of view in the back yard for more than 5 mins.


We hung up and looked at Skye.  We were in awe?!  But Skye knew she had permission because she jumped liked Husky's do and looked at us like, let's go folks!  She headed towards Williwaw Lakes,  happy as a  runaway dog with permission to play would be! :)


So below is the photo journey of our morning adventures with Skye. We were solo on the trail for the whole way until the return. She greeted others, but always found us again. A few pics show her waiting for us patiently as we de-layer in the morning sun.


To whomever owns this sweet  sweet girl, thank you for a wonderful addition to our crust cruising adventure.
Everything is more fun with a canine at your side! :)


Now I just hope she got home safe.
Read the last paragraph below to find out how we said good bye.

Skye waiting patiently

Guess we took a little long for her

Heading over to see the first skier we saw, which was at the lakes.

Skye way in the lead, with Cindy and I following.

Skye patiently waiting while we de-layered again

 Cindy and I...(BTW Skye is patiently waiting out of view during our photo session)

Alaskan Spring time hieroglyphics

Heading home was a blast- We were in the lead of our tired friend Skye as the crust was perfect and the fall line was in our favor! :) She would divert off the trail and check in with the local Ptarmigan, but always showed up in our view soon after.

One last look.
Always hard to head home after being out here.

Skye doing her best to keep up with Cindy on the way home.

Last shot was when we were at the base of the "ball fields" about to climb back home. Skye was more than happy to roll and wait and wait and roll while we de-layered one last time and got some water.

More Alaskan Spring Time Hieroglyphics

So how does the goodbye go?
Well, we were climbing up from the creek and heading back to the parking lot VIA the power line and I started to tell Skye what I was thinking.
"Skye, I am not good at good byes and breaking up is hard to do, so let's talk about this"
She was wandering up in the alders and not looking at me as I spoke to her.
"It is probably best you not follow us to the car- too emotional. If you wanted to head home right from here, that might be a good plan. It is your choice, but thanks for joining us today"
Cindy is laughing out loud at my conversation, but I was feeling better the more words I used.


I noticed when we got to the top of the power line that Skye took the low path below the caretakers house. I called Skye to let her know we were going on the high path back if she wanted to join us.


Cindy said to me "Liz, we are getting close, maybe it is best to start the goodbye and departure from Skye?"
I agreed and stopped talking to Skye.
That was the last I saw of her.
I kept peeking through the Hemlocks trying to get a visual of  my new canine friend who had just spent a wonderful morning bonding with us.
I never saw her and knew I had to stop looking.
We arrived at the parking lot and I didn't tell Cindy, but I was looking around ... but saw no Skye.


I was convincing myself she was headed home to the nice family on the phone.
She had her adventure.
She now was heading home, just like her "dad" said: She can find her way home from there. I kept saying that in my head.


We drove down the hill and felt filled to the brim- gorgeous terrain, endorphins were active and Vit D was present. We had a great ski!
 I felt it was important to appreciate Skye but NOT worry about her. 
She chose to spend the morning with us for a reason.
THANKS SKYE!


UPDATE
 I know she is home safe because I called the number later in the day and learned a bit about her...
2 years old and comes from great home near the trailhead (KIND OF) :)
PHEW...
I hope one of you may have a chance to have a Skye adventure some day. I think your best bet is to be first to the parking lot, because she likes to get out  early.