On our second day at Big Bear Mountain, Jae, Haru and I were about to walk more than we ever had for the entire year of 2017. Today’s morning adventure was a hike to the beautiful Alpine Pedal Path, the perfect place for two chubchubs like Haru and me to exercise and enjoy the crisp fresh air.

Of course, this hike was made overly complicated for Haru because I am the world’s worst helicopter dog mom. Prior to our trip, I read so many blogs of owners who took their dogs to Big Bear and how they prepared gear-wise. I buckled down and ordered a butt-load of things for Haru. Here are my favorites out of everything I bought – hope this can be a useful list if you have an extremely sheltered precious dumb dog like us and want to go on an excursion!

• Harness with backpack – Super warning about this – your baby should be used to wearing and carrying before you use this on an actual hike. We tried to get Haru adjusted but she hates the ideas of harnesses. This is extremely convenient if you actually have a capable dog to wear it as it has space to bring two 2L bottles and many other things. Nowadays, we use the harness without the added backpack.
• Hands-free Waist Leash – My favorite purchase ever! We use this even now when we take Haru out because of how convenient it is. One part goes around your waist and the other end connects like normal. For a dog that sometimes gets too excited like Haru, having your whole body weight as support is much easier than just holding with hands.
• All-Terrain Shoes – One of the things that irked me to no end was when people would condescendingly ask me why I got shoes for a SNOW dog. In the end, these shoes ended up saving Haru from getting cut up by rocks and other debris while we hiked and kept her paws from cracking from the cold. It also kept her feet clean when she went to splash in the lake! The only thing I regret not doing is buying some vaseline coating for her paws as well. It didn’t really matter that she was a husky – she was still a dog susceptible to cold damage. Would definitely recommend getting any kind of shoes if you’re going hiking!

Now onto the day recap!

I woke up at 7:30AM because I was just too excited. By the time I got downstairs, everyone was ready and hungry so we made BLTs while dressing Haru. Sadly, we couldn’t make use of the harness at all because she was very opposed to not being in control, as if she wasn’t… a work dog… or something…

 

While we ate, she just sat there for a good twenty minutes until we removed it…

Maybe she was the smart one and thought we were way too overdressed. This is how we left the house – a HUGE mistake. It was HOT and the sun was working in full force.

 

From left to right, starting from the back –

Adrian, Toby, Chris, me, Haru, Jae, Fariza (Chris’s girlfriend), Paola, Piff

 

Jae and Haru ran ahead the entire time because Haru was so excited. She ended up face planting in some dirt while going down an incline. We also ended up taking off her shoes for the last part of the hike and her paws ended up getting so muddy, much regrets.

She was so dirty that on the way back, we decided to have her sit in the trunk. However, Haru’s so used to sitting with us that she tried to squeeze through the headrests on the right side so she could look out the window. It wasn’t until we arrived that we realized she was actually stuck there…

One bath later, she was squeaky clean and we were STARVING. Luckily, Chris and Fariza came back with food from “Bone-side Down BBQ.” I haven’t had BBQ since I left Atlanta over a year and half ago. We used to have a really good rib place on campus, although I think it’s gone now…

I WAS SO EXCITED TO EAT THIS THOUGH. This place had amazing reviews and Jae and I sometimes watch BBQ documentaries when we’re bored. The brisket was so good on my first bite, but then the rest of it was really hard to chew 🙁 Same for the ribs. Everything else was a bit bland as well.

I should have ate more because we ended up having Piff’s gross ass mystery chicken for dinner. The only redeeming part about dinner was Paola’s amazing chicken rice bowls.

Then I passed out because I did enough exercise for the entire year.

Thanks again for reading and watching! From now on, I’ve decided to do blog/vlog posts every Monday and Friday and if I don’t keep to that schedule then feel free to verbally abuse me!

Have a good weekend guys!