What a great weekend. Summer finally arrived, with temperatures pushing 90 and humidity to spare. I had Stan the black lab for the weekend since my friend Andrew was headed to Cape Cod and needed a dog sitter, so Soolin, Stan and I spent the weekend hunting swimming holes and found several nice ones, including some excellent currents on an isolated spot near the stillwater bridge, (gmap, googlearth) and Lake Mattawa (gmap, googlearth). The worst event of the weekend – scurrying across route 2 west of Orange I lept down an embankment with the dogs to avoid traffic and found myself waste deep in a poison ivy patch which Soolin immediately proceeded to roll around in. The best? A 1/2 mile hike upriver from the Stillwater bridge, ankle to waste deep in water and clambering over and around boulders. Awesome! Soolin and I were in our element. Stan was not as sure of himself around the water but he’s known Soolin and I since he was 8 weeks old so he put on his game face and clambered after us, only stopping to complain occasionally but always scurrying up the bank when he could.

Next week weather permitting I’m heading back to Lake Mattawa in the early AM to get out on the lake with a float and Soolin on a line for some swimming and soaking action.