Is it too soon to hijack my own thread?
It always amazes me how much better an animal's nose is than ours. When I find a tough place to get around, whether it's blowdowns or rocky cliffs; I often will let my dog find the best path through or around. It took me a while to figure out how he knew, but I'm sure that he just follows the scent of those who went before him.
Years ago I woke up one morning to several inches of fresh snow. When I went out to my truck I saw that someone's dog had turned his leg up on my tire. I drove about 7 miles to a woods road, then a few miles further. When I came out at the end of the day I found that nobody else had traveled it. On the way out I saw where a coyote had walked down the road and placed his mark every time that spot in the tire had hit the road.
