BASH Husky Hikes
Once every month or so, BASH hosts a Saturday or Sunday “Husky Hike” for members, friends, and recent adopting owners in one of the many dog friendly venues of the greater bay area.
Two long time BASH members and experienced husky owners, and life-long area residents, Dennis and Greta put together a tailgate snack breakfast, with coffee, tea, and other beverages to start off a morning excursion for people and dogs along hiking trails that are dog friendly, scenic and enjoyable by the attending people, and comfortable and safe for our dogs. Any where from 4 to 16 people with assorted numbers of dogs have enjoyed our walks, with usually 5 to 8 eight people coming along.
Maps, park information, and directions are provided on the BASH web site and other information is sent out on the BASH e-mail system, which is also used for notification for changes, cancellations, or weather warnings.
The hikes vary in difficulty and types of terrain, and the available amenities like tables or bathrooms, but are usually two to four hours in length, with options for varying levels of fitness and dog handling experience. We usually start around the venue opening time, around 8:00 or 8:30 AM, in order to enjoy cooler temperatures for our heavy-coated dogs, as well as to avoid crowds that arrive later in the day.
So far, we’ve enjoyed group hikes at Several East Bay Regional Parks, including Sunol Valley Regional Wilderness, Coyote Hills Park, Alameda Creek Trail and Quarry Lakes, and Pioneer/Dry Creek/Garin Park. We have also made hikes through Edwards Preserve at Newark, Greyhound Rock County Beach near Davenport, Stulsaft Park in Redwood City, Almaden Quicksilver County Park , Uvas Canyon County Park near Morgan Hill, and Little Buddha Retreat near Aptos.
Our reasons for staging these expeditions for people and dogs are many. It is really a pleasure to spend time outdoors with our own dogs and socialize with other dog owners. In addition, we talk and teach a lot -- about northern breeds and dog handling in general, about dog diets and health, about hiking and camping and sledding with dogs. We allow all the dogs to socialize with each other, and introduce people to parks and hikes and the trail etiquette they otherwise might not know about. At the same time, many people in the parks are delighted to see Huskies close up, and learn about our breed, dogs, and dog rescue.
Some people might hesitate to hike out all on their own, or need a little help and introduction to their dogs and the outdoors, don’t know where to find the places they may enjoy , or just wouldn’t get started with their dogs without the incentives of coffee, strawberries,and mini-pastries first thing in the morning. And Husky Hikes are our way of support people who undertake the challenges of keeping these wonderful, active, ever-shedding and too-smart-for-their-own-good companions.
After the Husky Hikes I usually do write-ups or chronicals of our adventures and post on the BASH newsletter/web site, providing enough information and descriptions and pictures so that other dog oriented people can better manage and enjoy their dogs!
Greta Huhtala-Koehn, BASH Co-Activity Director June15, 2016
Looking for a Siberian Husky as a friend of and her children white Husky with blue was taken from there home or missing. The children really love this dog and it home was well taking care. So I'm looking for one for them and one for me. If you have any or know of any I wll go pick it up and pay for it. Please contact me at my email address djudware60@yahoo.com Please help me with this thank you Donald Judware 518-529-4035
After our HuskyMalamute died we were beyond devastated. We'd had her since she was 6 weeks old. She died right before Christmas when she was 10 years old. All we did was cry every time we'd look at each other. We knew we couldn't replace the dog we'd lost but we knew we were very lonesome without a dog. So we started looking for another husky type doggy. We found Aria in advertising from Bay Area Siberian Husky Rescue. We have no idea why we wanted THIS particular dog but we did. We found lots of other dogs for adoption but something kept pulling our heart to Aria. We mad the phone call to BASHR and talked to Randee. She was honest about the dog and her history. She asked us all the apporpiate questions about our desire to own a Siberian. They aren't the easiest dogs to own. We insisted we knew what we were getting into; we are semiretired- someone's always with the dog; we live in snow county and have a few fenced acres... but more than that we were just lonesome for a husky dog! So Randee invited us to come see Aria but never promised it would work out. We drove 6 hours to meet her. When we met her we wanted her! She came with shots and a microchip. On the way home I modified her name to Aria Christmas. During the past 3 years we have kept in touch with BASHR via email(Randee will answer questions about dogs) and the Newletter and an employee of Randee's named Ellen. If it wasn't for what BAy Area Siberian Husky Rescue does for dogs we would have never found our girl Aria who has finally found her forever home and created unimaginalble happiness for us. Debi and Bill Bradfield