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So, Godfrey is back out on the trail. 
We're at the Walden Creek Trail.

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Last time we were here, it 
was in the middle of winter,

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so this entire trail was covered with 
snow. And he is back. Godfrey is back.

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At least for now. So, he's got this 
arthritic problem in his left front leg,

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which causes him to limp sometimes. So, I'm 
going on this easy trail to see how he fares.

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Um, because I don't want to tax him too much cuz 
I'm not sure how many of these he's got left. But

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he's back, at least for now, and he's not limping 
too bad today. Some days are better than others.

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So, we'll see how it goes. So, as luck would 
have it, the original trail we were going to

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go on today is a e is an easier trail 
than this one. This one's pretty easy,

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but um I got about I don't know mile or two 
from the trail head and was turned away by a

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wildfire crew. So, that one was canceled. And 
that one was it's a good easy hike for him.

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Um because it also has some water 
crossings that are kind of fun. This

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one's a little bit more boring. It's 
sort of like a forest service road

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until you get up. God for this way. 
This fool's taking the wrong trail.

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I don't know if you can notice the limp. It's 
very slight cuz he's so hyped up. But yeah,

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the other one, Godfree, don't eat things. I 
It's either arthritis or eating stupid things.

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So, the other one I think is a shorter, easier, 
but probably more entertaining uh for Godfrey.

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So, when I was turned around by the crew, 
I started doing a search for other trails,

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and it's hard to find anything. and we're 
in the North Georgia mountains and it's kind

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of hard to find something on the spur of the 
moment that my dog would be able to hike. So,

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this one we've been on before and I think it's far 
enough away from the wildfires that we don't have

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to worry about it. Took almost about a half an 
hour to get from the first trail to this trail. So

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today's just really all about experimenting to see 
how well Godfrey will do on these easier trails

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with this brand new limp. So like I said, this is 
a pretty easy trail. And as we pulled in today,

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right behind me, there was a car that was coming. 
And I'm just right now spying the other hikers to

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see if they have a dog. As long as they don't have 
a dog, I'm in good good shape. Yeah, they don't.

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And they look like they're going in the 
other direction, which is also good.

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Or maybe they're coming in this direction. Maybe

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we already walked all the 
way around. But anyway, um

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just wanted to make sure they didn't 
have another dog cuz Godfrey hates dogs.

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Just make it a more peaceful hike.

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This is not a heavily trafficked trail 
because I think it's there's not much to

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see other than a waterfall at the end. And even 
the waterfall is kind of, you know, just average.

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But I've saved this one as one of Godfreyy's 
favorites cuz it's a easy trail, but it's a

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little steep. Well, it's just there's just 
this incline till you get to the falls. It's

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not a bad incline. It's just the other trail 
really didn't have much of an incline at all.

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And that's was the one I was looking to try to get 
him back out on the trail to see how how well he

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does. And this would have been probably the one 
that I did second if the first one went well.

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We'll see. Hopefully he does a good job

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and doesn't get more injured and I'm 
not actually doing him a disservice.

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But we did go to the vet. He he did 
have a vet visit and that's what the

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vet told me that it was arthritis in his 
shoulder. So osteoarthritis in his hips,

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arthritis in his left shoulder, 
me and my geriatric dog.

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So, we are in the first few days of spring and 
it's been kind of a little bit of a weather roller

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coaster in North Georgia. We've gone from 
highs in the 80s to highs in the lower 50s,

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upper 40s. Today's one of the cooler 
days. It's probably about upper 50s,

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maybe 58, 59 degrees, close to 60. 
Skye's overcast, so no not much sun

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today. It's just kind of gray. Leaves 
are just starting to bud on the trees.

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And I think tomorrow it's 
supposed to hit 80 again.

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Kind of a crazy roller coaster weather ride.

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But it's a nice day for a hike, especially 
with it being overcast and no leaves on

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the trees yet. So, you're not 
having the sun beat down on you

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and it's relatively cool.

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You know, I keep talking about 
Godfree's limp, but it's, you know,

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constantly on my mind as he gets older. Oh, 
here we go. Mud. Never met mud. He didn't like

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um Godfrey. This way. Come on. Get 
out of there. You in the mud. Come on.

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is that uh thing about his limp is that when he's 
sedentary, you know, he's laying down for several

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hours, he gets up and the limp is a little 
pronounced and then as he's walking around

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in the yard, it kind of goes away a little. like 
right now if you're looking at them on the video

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which should be on the website or there'll be a 
YouTube link on the on the podcast post. But he

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doesn't look too bad. I mean, he's not really 
I can I can notice a little bit of a limp,

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but it's not too pronounced right now. But of 
course, he's kind of hyped up to be out hiking

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again. It's been months only because we had the 
holidays. Um, and then, uh, a few weeks ago he

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started developing that limp. So, I was trying 
to write it out to see how well he would do.

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We'll see how he is uh, after I get him back 
home. and what he's like tomorrow morning to

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see whether or not I take him out hiking again 
on these types of trails, even these easy ones.

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So, just like that, we are almost to the falls. 
This is such a short trail. That's why it almost

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doesn't make it worth it because it's really just 
all for service road until you get to the falls.

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And there is some nice neat little falls. I mean, 
you'll see it in a minute or if you go back some

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episodes on the podcast or on the blog. And I'm 
not sure if I YouTubed this one yet, but it will

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be this time. You can see the falls. We're just 
right around the corner now. So, here we are.

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This is the approach to the falls. You're right 
next to the stream. You see the falls off in the

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distance. Maybe coming up to it soon. So, it looks 
like a little bit of storm damage. Some fresh cut

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trees across this part of the trail. A bunch of 
trees fell down since the last time we were here.

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So, there are two sets of falls. This time, I 
won't even try the upper ones. These lower falls,

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there's some upper falls. I won't even go down. 
Godfrey, no. No, no, no, no. Don't go down there.

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You can't get back up. Maybe we'll go the other 
way. The other side. We'll try to go down where

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it's flat and then cross. How about that? Come on. 
This way. We'll go down to the bottom, cross over,

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and go take a look. Hopefully, we can get our 
views in before the other hikers get here.

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So, we're sort of trying to bushwack it through 
the wet side. See if I can get over there because

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I think it's the only way he can really be 
at that area of the water. We'll see. Getting

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a little bit closer. So, because of his gimpy 
leg, I know it's insensitive to call him gimpy,

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but that's that's how we roll. Um, actually 
coming across on this side. It's kind of neat

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because we get a different view of the creek and 
the falls. See if I can get over there without

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uh falling in the drink. Come on, Godfrey. 
Why are you taking the the absolute worst way?

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You got to go around the other way.

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Sometimes I swear he speaks 
English. Come on this way.

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Well, we are close to the front. I 
don't know if he can make it here. So,

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we did it. He found his way up. I 
didn't think he could do it. He did it.

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So, he's not too feeble to 
bark at the water in the falls.

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Trying to find a way to get to me, but here 
we are right up against them. And he made

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it pretty much all the way. So, he's 
not too worn out to grab giant sticks.

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At least he's got that going for him.

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So, he did more than I thought 
he'd be able to do. I mean,

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we took the shallow route route route, 
but he made it. It's an accomplishment.

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Good times had by all. And just like 
that, after only a measly 45 minutes,

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we're done with the highlight of the whole trail. 
I suppose be worth it if uh Godfrey comes out with

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uh flying colors when it comes 
to his arthritic legs and hips.

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Off we go. Let's go. Now I just got to keep 
watch for the other hikers and get Godfrey

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back on leash if we spot them. Wonder 
if they went off on a different trail.

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Here we go. Back to the Jeep. So, unless the 
hikers that were behind us take a lot of breaks,

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they must have gone in on a different 
trail. I'm always so concerned about

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that because I really like being 
alone or alone with this big galute.

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alone where I record things 
and then post them to YouTube.

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There's got to be uh some kind of diagnosis for 
that kind of behavior. It's like the guys who used

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to be on talk radio who they don't say a word when 
they're not on the air. when that when they're on

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the air, they just talk up a storm. And I'm not 
saying I'm that chatty, but I think you get the

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picture, but I think we should have run into 
them by now if they were coming up behind us.

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I think I would recommend this 
trail especially for families,

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maybe with kids, if kids who maybe 
don't like to hike. It's not that

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long of a hike to the falls and then 
you've got the falls at the end.

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So, that makes it kind of nice. And it's not 
it's definitely not a hard trail. There's no

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climbing involved. It's just walking up this 
uh wide forest road, forest service road,

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you know, or maybe people who can't do the 
hard trails, um but still want to go hiking.

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This this won't be perfect. I mean, you 
get at least a little reward at the end.

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And it's enough of a workout. You know, 
if you go slow, then it's fine. But,

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you know, if you if you That's not from 
Godfrey. If you go at a steady pace,

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um, you can actually work up a sweat. I had 
to take off my long sleeve shirt because

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um walking up the you know the in the 
constant incline um still work up a sweat.

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So Godfrey just had a water break and you can 
see he's a little more wobbly than he was at the

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beginning. You know, it's the difference between 
being hyped to being back up for being back out

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on the trail and now he's tired for walking a few 
miles. But I think overall he looks no worse for

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wear. We're just a few probably five minutes 
away from the Jeep and then we head back home.

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Just like that, we're back at the Jeep. 
Going to hit the road and head home.