I am planning to do my first trip with my dog in a few weeks! The trail is 15 miles round trip with a 900 foot elevation gain and we'd do it in two days. I'm in Oregon and the trail is near Hood, so it should be about max 75 degrees. Not expecting any rocky areas. My dog hikes with me but has only done max 5 miles a day. He is a 55-pound lab mix.

Should I get him some booties to wear or would paw salve be enough to protect his pads? I'd love to avoid boots as we are also introducing a mesh muzzle at the moment and I don't want to overwhelm him. (He is very friendly but tries to swallow everything in sight)

I will be keeping my dog on leash so hopefully the position never comes up, but I have no idea how she will react to seeing a bear- whether she will bark, growl or just try to avoid it. but if we see one and she barks and it comes to charge us will spraying it hurt her? Or me for that matter?

I'm looking for recomendations to move to a city with a lower cost of living and great outdoor recreation. I currently live in Austin, TX and the cost of living here has skyrocketed. I love the outdoor scene here, but could definitely go for a place with more camping and backpacking opportunities closeby. I have been looking into West Virginia and Arkansas. Does anyone have any insight or reccomendations?

Poodle and doodle owners: question for you. Do you get your the fur around your dogs feet cut super short(clean feet?) in advance of backpacking trips, does this help with dog boots?

Hey! I 20F have wanted to go backpacking for years but could never find anyone to go with so I’ve decided to just go on my own with my dog (she is the best hiking partner) We planning to go in 2 months and have been training everyday. She is a Bouvier and Bernese mix but definitely presents more bouvier. My grandfather used to be super into backpacking and was a survivalist so he has given me a lot of advice on equipment/tools/what to do w food/etc but he never went with a dog. I’ve been doing research but any tips, advice, equipment etc that you’d recommend would be great! I think right now my biggest concern is that we will be in bear country (only black bears). She would remain on leash the whole time and that wouldn’t be an issue (I do often tie her leash onto my backpack tho would that be fine?). but I’m sure if we came face to face with a bear she would bark and do her pointing thing she does. (Idk for sure though because she hasn’t seen a wild big animal before lol) but would her barking upset or deter the bear if accompanied with my walking back and speaking loudly/calmly? Also, she is protective/guarding and would probably growl/bark at night if she senses something near our campsite. In that scenario should I try to just go to sleep and ignore her or be prepared for a fight or look outside the tent? And I’ve heard of bears trying to get in peoples tents, if she was barking would that deter them? Also sorry for the bad grammar it’s 3AM and I can’t sleep and would love advice on this, thanks!

Edit - had some more questions come up

-Any recommendations for drinking water? (water purifiers vs boiling), Would my dog need to drink the purified water? She drinks river/lake water at home quite a bit (honestly prefers it, if there is a water source nearby she refuses to drink the water I packed for her)

-any other recommendations on what food to pack for both of us/tools to cook it. I thought of doing tuna cans, nuts, and dehydrated fruits/meats for myself but I haven’t looked too much into the food for her yet. Also how far away should I start adjusting her to the diet?

-I can fend for myself with bugs with hats and clothes but what about her? How can I keep deer flies off of her?

-if I need to go to the bathroom or bathe is it ok to tie her leash to a nearby tree branch or something like that? Or would it be better just to take her with me (she loves the water more than I do)

-she is 95lbs, if she were to get injured or hurt her paws what would be the best thing to do? I could probably carry her for short periods of time like for a minute😂

-should clothes that I cooked in/had treats in pocket etc also be hung up with food? and how far away from our sleeping spot should our food be hung up? Would my backpack be able to stay in the tent with us if it earlier transported the food/garbage?

-what is the best way to transport garbage from site to site so that the smell wouldn’t get on my bag or me (I’m thinking of eating canned tuna/chicken and I feel like the cans would smell strong would rinsing them in the water be a good idea?)

Any trails here that you guys love for us and the pups?

Wanted to see if anybody had any personal experience with some tents I'm considering for solo backpacking with two 45lbs huskies. When my husband and I go together we have the REI half dome 3 person rent and fit well with us and three dogs. I've recently done a solo trip with it, and am interested in doing more solo backpack trips with our two youngest huskies. (Our blue eyed boy 3 year old, Nitro, and our 3.5 year old gray and white girl, Shiloh). For a long time I was pretty set on saving up and getting the Nemo hornet osmo 2p tent for this purpose as we had an old Nemo dagger 2p in the past and LOVED that tent until we got the 3p. With tent tech advancing it wasn't feasible for me because it was old and heavier than our 3p. Now I'm not sure, even as a 2p, that the hornet would be big enough for me and 2 dogs? But I want something very lightweight as I'm 5' 6'' and around 135lbs. If I'm soloing I'll be carrying a lot on my own. The Nemo dragonfly 2p is on my radar as another option. But it definitely increases the weight, but has better space. I've heard good things about Gossamer Gear The Two but I'm not a huge fan of the single walled idea given that we live in the Midwest and deal with a lot of humidity. I've done almost zero research on this next tent but have also been hearing about the Durston X-mid 2.

The nice thing about Nemo is I have a lot of REI membership bonuses saved up so I'd be able to get anything from them almost free 😅 and the one year return policy is good insurance if I end up not liking it.

Thanks for any insight!