Hi ho, hi ho, a hiking we will go. Come on guys let me hear everybody sing, says Felix. Hank sort of snickers to Dallas and says well that’s a little goofy, I’m not gonna sing that goofy song. About that time Big Fee (short for Felix) abruptly turns on those big heels and comes to a screeching halt and says “Hank, what did you say?” Showing a real toothy grin and cowering a bit on those long lanky legs Hank says, “who me”? Fee says, “I ain’t stuttering! You got a problem with my hiking song?” Terrifically embarrassed Hank says, “uh, no”. And off they went singing, well maybe it was more howling, at the top of their lungs. They climbed so far up and wound around so many trails everything began to look the same. Big Fee asked the tail end pup, Coco, if he had put any markers on the bushes so they could find their way back. Coco loves to daydream and chase butterflies. He is very easily distracted. Coco answers, “who me”? “Huh?” “I didn’t know, nobody told me to do that?” Fee says, “that’s always the tail end pups job to mark the trail!” “Geez, well I suppose we’ll have lunch and figure out how we’ll get back down. Spread the snacks Dallas.” Dallas came well prepared with lots of goodies. Good thing because they could very likely be spending the night on the trail. I do hope those coyotes are still friendly enough. They warned us about going through their territory a few years back. That’s when old Radar made peace with the coyote chief and the pups agreed to stay out of their territory. All this talk of being lost, coyotes, and the like were making little Willow real nervous. I tell you, she is sticking to me like glue and shaking like a leaf says Dallas. But that’s ok. I know what’s it like to be the new kid at camp. We all have to take care of each other. We’ve all had our first camp experience to tell.

After lunch we packed up and begin winding down the trail towards camp. A fork in the road. I always hate those things when I’m hiking and especially when I’m probably lost. We all agreed to take the fork to the right. After going just a short way around a bend we came to a gate. Another problem. Do we go through the gate and maybe meet up with a herd of mean cattle? Was the gate just there to keep people out? It’s getting on up in the afternoon and we don’t have time to waste. We go thru the gate. All’s good so far. After hiking about a mile, we came out into a cleared spot in the trees. Fee calls me to the front because he knows I am the levelheaded one in the pack. Dallas, is that what I think it is in the distance? I peer ever so intently across the clearing. Great jumping Josephat! We gotta sneak back out of here real slow and quick. Nobody makes a sound!