Purple flowering raspberry along the trail up Sleeping Beauty in the Lake George Wild Forest.

“Why are there so many dogs on this trail?” a little boy asked his father as he caught sight of Cooper, my canine companion.

Cooper and I certainly saw a lot of other dogs on our hike up Sleeping Beauty last weekend. But there were also a lot of kids, some of them very small. This boy, on his way up while Cooper and I headed down, looked to be about 6. Without waiting for an answer to his first question, he asked me if I’d seen any good animals.

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“Not really,” I confessed. “But I saw a frog and some dragonflies.”

“My favorite!” he said, not specifying which, and scrambled to catch up to his father. His mother came behind, holding a toddler by the hand. This little guy didn’t speak, but stopped to pat Cooper very gently on the neck, his little fingers flexing in the ruff of soft fur while Cooper sniffed his face.

Sleeping Beauty, in the Lake George Wild........

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