getting fit

Operation "get-fit-for-hike-in-the-Andes" has seen some success. (And some setbacks... though really the biggest one is that we really don't want to pay the fee to join a gym. I mean, who needs air conditioning and water fountains anyway?)

First, we decided to take wolf-pup (who's really more a wolf-dog in size now, but still a flailing six-month-old in action) for a hike in the woods. Charleston is rather lacking in the hiking department (being in the Lowcountry and all), so we took a weekend trip to Toccoa, GA. At Jessica Khoury's very sound advice we decided to go on the Panther Creek Trail, which was about 8 miles round trip and quite pretty.

Wolf-pup has had limited interaction with nature (ie. chasing feral cats and squirrels out of our yard and growling at incoming waves on the beach). He LOVED the trail, though he had some vertical doubts at first (jumping over logs and stones and such) and tumbled into a rather deep part of the creek. There were parts of the trail where he bounded ahead (always on a leash of course) and people coming the opposite direction clutched their chests and said, "For a moment I thought it was a wolf!" (because there are so many of those in northern Georgia...)

After nearly tumbling into the stream. 

This foliage looked so much like something from Alice in Wonderland to me.

HELLO, CAMERA

Pretty waterfalls made the hike worth it.

Raiden enjoys a quick swim!

Outside of the weekend hike I've been running with wolf-pup. Three miles a day seems to be our standard at the moment (sticky humidity makes it that much harder).