Literally off Leash with Harlie

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Turns out Harlie is the best adventure buddy. I mean, I always knew that but now you do too. She doesn't venture too far out of sight, comes when she's called, and knows to stop when she sees other people so I can put the leash back on her. Plus, she is so happy to be included that it makes my heart happy. Most of the national parks aren't dog friendly because they're trying to preserve the natural habitat but I try to bring her on all the other adventures that allow dogs.

We took another trip to Mars, a dog friendly one, called the Toadstool Hoodoos right outside of Kanab. This quick 2 mile hike definitely feels like another planet. The ground feels hollow and the toadstools have you looking over your shoulder for signs of aliens. Harlie hopped from toadstool to toadstool, scaled the rocks, and had the zoomies up and down the clay mounds. We tried to blend in as much as possible to avoid an abduction.




Another dog friendly adventure was the Buckskin Gulch slot canyon. This was our second slot canyon, but the first one that's in the desert sand. You have to drive a few miles on a dirt, washboard, sandy road to get to the Wire Pass Trail Head and I was a little nervous Alejandro (my Mazda3) wasn't going to make it. The trail starts off with about a mile on a dirt road and then you have to take a makeshift log ladder down an 8ft drop to get into the canyon. Harlie was nervous but I lifted her up once I was stable on the ladder and carried her the rest of the way down. Luckily she's less than 60 lbs so this wasn't too difficult. 



Buckskin Gulch is about 15 miles long and might be the longest slot canyon in the world. Once we got away from the rest of the adventurers, I let her off leash and she LOVED it. We explored into the canyon for about 3 miles and then turned around. 

Going up the log ladder was a bit more difficult but we made it up. Maybe next time this will go a bit smoother since she's had experience with a ladder now.




My heart fills when I get to see how happy these adventures make Harlie. She's truly my ride or die pup and I can't imagine my life without her anymore. The best decision I ever made was adopting her and the second best was booking this trip. Here's to continuing a life of adventures off leash.











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