Because she refuses not to go for a swim whenever we're there. Even in winter. When it's mostly frozen. And buried in the snow.

Nonetheless, it's close and with two feet of fresh snow it seemed a great spot to go play to end the year. It's a short hike up an old road that had become brilliantly wild with all the snow. Tink was in heaven, of course, running back and forth and even obeying commands from time to time.

The snow wasn't so deep that we needed snowshoes (though I had them strapped to my fancy new Deuter Freescape Lite 26 winter pack), but it made it interesting when we left the old road to follow the creek to the pools.

Upon arrival, Tink... er... Stinker, dove straight into the pool to prospect for ice. She's a bit of an ice connoisseur. At home, she'll deal with ice from the fridge, but she really prefers wild ice. She loved all the ice that built up during the storm and happily munched any icicle we knocked off the house. Or the BBQ. Or the plants. In the creek, there was ice built up along the waterline on the rocks. Nom nom nom. I've never seen anyone eat so much ice so quickly.

Almost back to the car, we decided we wanted more so we hopped on another trail to visit a more well-known waterfall just a short distance away. It's right by the actual road so I rarely go there, but the river and forest were beautiful in the snow. The falls were gorgeous, too, but the cold had sapped the life from all our cameras so the only shot I got was blurry and poorly composed. I guess we'll go back.

This trip also marked our first use of Tinkham's new tracking collar. Over the last year we'd used a Fi collar. It was well designed, durable, had a great app, and a vibrant community. It also relied on cellular coverage. Not terribly helpful in the mountains. We're now using two devices. (We're not working with any of these companies, but there are Amazon referral links.)

A Findster Duo+ tracker relies on a transmitter on Tinkham and a receiver with me. It claims up to three miles of range, though we haven't tested it that far, yet. The only downside I see so far is the tracker is a bit bulky and I could see extreme situations where it could be ripped off her collar.

For tracking in populated areas, we're using an Apple AirTag in an Elevation Lab TagVault Pet. Should she ever get lost and near people, we'll be able to track her.

As usual, we don't want to ever have to use these tracking tools, but like a FidoPro Airlift (FPA-MOOSE for 20% off) or pet insurance, they are a necessity for an adventure dog.

📍On the lands of the Snoqualmie people.