[nagdu] Backpacking

[Julie J.]

Abigail,

I have been backpacking, but not with my guide.   The trip I went on was 
5 days in Colorado in the Rockies.  I'd estimate the pack I carried was 
50 pounds or so.  It was just about all I could do to carry the thing. 
*smile*   Of course that was just my stuff.  I agree with Nicole to have 
your guide carry her own food.

My      suggestion would be to get a pack for yourself and for your 
guide now and start building up your strength to carry it.  Add in a 
little more weight each day, practicing going up and down stairs to 
simulate mountain hiking.  Your guide won't be used to carrying weight 
and will also need to build up strength to be able to do so 
comfortably.  There are a lot of web sites that talk about dog 
backpacking, you could check out some of them to get an idea of how much 
the maximum weight is that your guide could potentially carry.  I'd 
subtract a bit from that because guiding is work too.

There is a book about a guy who hiked the entire Appalachian trail with 
his guide dog.  NLS has it.  I want to say it was called, "Blind 
Courage" but I could be misremembering.  I've read a load of dog books 
and they sometimes get cross-wired in my head! *smile*

Best of luck,
Julie