I-70 WEST and BEYOND: Snowshoeing, Lilypad Lake, and the man who lost his dog

Lilypad Lake is a pretty place, in the winter, not summer, because the lodge pole pine beetle kill is not as obvious, which makes it a much better snowshoeing destination than a summer hiking destination. Theresa, Marianne and I had a beautiful, blue sky day for our snowshoeing, with sunshine and no wind. Just about as perfect as it gets.

As pretty as the scenery was, my memory of the day is of a lost dog. When we got to the trail head, a man was standing by his car while his two dogs played in the snow. One was a golden, the other a beautiful black and white border collie mix. About a mile into our hike, we passed the dog owner, but he was short one dog. He said the border collie had wandered off and now he was out looking for him. He told us his name (Ringo) and we told him we'd keep an eye out for him. On our way back, we passed the dog owner once again, still searching for his dog. Back at our cars, some 3 hours later, the owner had returned to the parking lot, waiting, searching, calling for Ringo. The anguish on his face was heartbreaking.

I'm haunted by this. He told us that the dog was only 3 years old but always returned and he felt like he needed to wait by his car "just in case..."

I wonder how late he waited and if the dog ever returned. I couldn't help but think of Marley, our yellow lab that we had to put down several years ago. How would I be able to leave without him? We saw very few people on the trail and no significant animal tracks so I've really got to wonder what happened to the dog. My heart goes out to his owner.