Bodenburg Butte Hike

 It's so slushy and muddy right now due to breakup. Pam and I had trouble deciding where to go for a little hike today. Hoping the sun may have dried out some of the trail, I suggested hiking the Butte. Well, it wasn't quite dry out there, but the snow that covered most of the trail was solid enough that our micro spikes were enough to keep us from falling down in the slush. The stairs were mostly dry but some of the higher sections still had big clumps of ice on them. We had to be careful. We left our dogs off leash while on the stairs, so they didn't drag us to our deaths racing us to the top. It was nice and warm with only a light wind at the top. There was a group of young people on the top. One of the girls in that group was carrying a beautiful white cat in a backpack. She even took him out of her pack, and he walked around on the summit on a leash. He didn't seem too bothered by our curious dogs. But I kept Bella on a leash, so she didn't cause any trouble. I'm not sure how she reacts with cats. On our way down, Bella disappeared and didn't come back when both Pam and I were frantically calling her name. I was getting worried and went to my Find My app on my phone and searched for her Apple Air Tag. It wasn't working very well in pointing to her direction. But when I pushed the sound button, I could hear the tag ringing in the distance. I couldn't tell which direction it was coming from, so I climbed up a bit. Up higher, I couldn't hear the little sound anymore. So, I knew she must be ahead of us. Finally, as we descended, the sound got louder and she appeared below us. I kept her in my sights after that. She had apparently found something interesting off the trail that was more important to her than the sound of my voice. She was not being a good girl at that moment! But I was very happy we were reunited. It was a good workout for all of us. 

A lady and her cat!