Find A Penny...Pick It Up...

I left the coast yesterday to take advantage of some nice weather in the mountains before winter sets in. Today I was scouting the Sierra National Forest for some good camp locations...and generally just enjoying a nice ride through a really beautiful forest. When I came upon this little girl peaking out from the side of the road. At this point I'm about 45 miles into the forest so this poor pup is lost.

We got to know each other while I fed her the ham and turkey sandwich that I packed for lunch. She wouldn't even think of getting in the truck at first. But after a 10 minute pep talk she let me pick her up and put her in. She was scared, cold, skinny and hungry. We headed back out of the forest to try to get phone service again so I could call "Ralph" at the number on the dogs collar. During the winding ride for the next 20 miles I started to come to grips with the fact that this might be my new dog...at least for some period of time. Finally, I was able to make the call and talk to Ralph who was relieved to hear that "Penny" was okay. We quickly realized that we were almost three hours apart and agreed to meet in the middle.

Penny really calmed down about half way through the ride and even nodded off. She was still pretty upset but I think she knew that at the very least she wasn't going to be sleeping on top of a mountain tonight. She woke up to Ralph saying hello and was super stoked to see him. He said she had been out there since last Thursday when they were separated while hunting. That's seven days in the wilderness! She's so lucky not to be cougar food.