Kim, our dogs, and I enjoyed a magnificent weekend in Atlanta in mid-April. Kim and Ally were there to participate in GADDC's 2003 Disc Dog Southern Nationals frisbee competition, and Denali and I were there to do some hiking and cheer her on.

I picked Kim up at 4am. I had loaded most of my camping gear into my new roof bag, so I expected to have a relatively roomy truck for a change. Wrong. Alien bodysnatchers at some point replaced the single-backpack-toting girl I once took to Fall Creek Falls with a cruise ship queen :-). We stuffed the back of my Explorer with so much stuff we could barely get the dogs in.

We stayed in site 80, which was pretty nice. It was a deck site on the water, along a secluded inlet. The sites were spaced far enough apart so that we barely noticed our neighbors, except for the karaoke campers across the water who serenaded us to sleep.

We were fortunate to get a campsite. Georgia Spring break was ongoing, and the Lake Allatoona area was crowded. Red Top State Park campground was full, so we stopped at McKinney Campground. Around 9am, we got one of the last 5 sites available. We continued down to Piedmont Park where I dropped Kim off, and returned with the dogs to set up camp.

Once I started setting up the tents, the dogs went nuts.

Kim wanted to spend all day Saturday at the frisbee event doing photography. My main goal was to enjoy the day on the trails (my original idea was to visit the Memphis dog park that weekend). Since Kim's division competed on Sunday, Ally stayed with me and Denali to get some exercise.

After setting up camp, I drove a few miles north into the state park. I pulled on my boots, hooked up the dogs, and headed out on the 5.5 mile Homestead Trail Loop. It was a beautiful walk through piney woods, with plenty of deer and squirrels to keep the dogs entertained.

The trail meandered around the park's peninsula, up easy hills and down to the lake shore. Not very challenging, but a nice bit of variety for a 5 mile walk.

The dogs had tons of energy, which I used to my advantage. I hooked the lead into my camera pack's hip belt, and let them pull me. It worked great on the flat and uphill. Going downhill, it felt a bit like trying to keep up with a runaway treadmill.

On a coupler, Denali and Ally make a good hiking team. Ally keeps my dog from racing off to parts unknown, and Denali keeps both of them on a steady pace. This was the first real test of Denali's new, slimmer, backpack. She handled it well. It contained two water bladders, enough for both her and Ally. In my pack, I carried lunch, camera gear, and a single water bottle for me.

We stopped for an extended rest break here at this rocky point and watched the many boaters out on the lake.

I relaxed in the sunshine and watched Denali and Ally play. All they could really do is chase each other in tight circles. Since they were still tethered on the coupler, I didn't have to worry about them wandering too far off. They never could agree on which way to charge.

Lake Allatona is more a haven for boaters than hikers. There were a lot of folks having fun on the water that day.

Lead dog #1 -- unresponsive to most commands, but will work endlessly for food.

Lead dog #2 -- will fake being tired until taken off lead, at which point boundless concealed energies are revealed.

I put a lot of miles on my truck shuttling between the lake area and Piedmont Park that weekend. After finishing the hike, I grabbed a quick dinner, and raced 30 miles downtown to pick up Kim. We returned to the campsite just in time for sunset.

The showerhouse was about a quarter-mile up the road from our site. It seems a bit decadent to me to have a rolling suitcase while camping, but Kim made good use of it. Why is she so happy? She just finished taking an hour-long hot shower. At least, that's what she told me.

It was a little chilly Sunday morning, but the sun was coming up fast and bright. I elected to spend the day downtown and watch Kim and Ally do their frisbee thing.

This was the 2003 Disc Dog Southern Nationals Novice Toss & Fetch division. The event was a big one, with 50 or so novice competitors, and 70 or so pros. Kim & Ally went fairly early in round 1, and gave a strong performance.

Despite my worry that she would be too tired from the long hike the previous day, Ally caught most of what was thrown to her.

Their round 1 score was good enough to put them in 3rd place.

The event was held in the midst of the Atlanta Dogwood Festival. Piedmont Park was teeming with people. dogs, and vendors.

The watering hole in the Animal Planet compound wasn't working, so we cooled our dogs down at the public water spigots.

Kim did it the hard way. I wandered around and found a bucket some thoughtful organization had provided for just that purpose.

The field holding the frisbee event was probably the largest open space anywhere in the park. By late afternoon, when the pros were competing, the sidelines and berms were completely packed with spectators.

Round 2 didn't go as well for Ally; she dropped some at first. But that was true for the other teams as well.

The wind was tricky in the afternoon. At times, it was blowing inward from both endzones. The frisbees caught in the resulting eddies would just do bizarre moves.

In the end, Kim had to defend her 3rd place score in a dramatic sudden-death throw-off. The two dogs missed their first attempts, and both caught the 2nd throws for equal points. Kim's last throw went into the crowds, so she wound up with 4th place.