After our two senior weens ran to the Rainbow Bridge together last December, it felt difficult to imagine life without them. It wasn’t just the little daily quirks that we would miss, like Banana marching up the stair landing, the minute we walked in the house, to toss around and squeak her favorite toy, a hedgehog, in celebration of our homecoming from a long workday; or Roxie waiting patiently on the other side of hubby’s leg barricade every evening, hoping to be gifted at least one of the many pistachios he was de-shelling; it was the indelible outdoor adventures they would accompany us on that we would miss even more — from camping trips leading to destinations nestled deep in the woods to hiking endeavors that ended atop mountains. Our senior dachshunds were never just pets to us; they were our sidekicks, willing to be our adorable, eight-inch shadows everywhere we went no matter how cold, hot, long, or arduous the adventure might be.

One of our most memorable adventures with the senior weens was our first ever backpacking trip in 2017. Hubby and I had decided on a whim to go on a one-night backpacking trip, knowing full-well that we would likely encounter snowy weather overnight. The senior dachs had no idea what kind of adventure they had just been volunteered for that weekend, and if they could have, they surely would not have traded their warm, boring bedding at home for untethered freedom in the cold, dark wilderness. Nonetheless, we all persevered and the dachs didn’t fare too badly because they were able to hitch a ride in our arms for half of the hike out the next morning while we trekked back to our vehicle in fresh snow.

A year later, we invited the senior dachs on another backpacking adventure, and despite them having plenty of reason to not trust our promise of a beautiful hike with perfect weather, they still chose to tag along. What choice did they have anyway, considering we were their meal ticket.

The weather was indeed perfect, but not without at first threatening a downpour when we were most vulnerable at the top of the mountain; however, it was the steep and long trek that would challenge us this time around. Most people think that these short-legged, long-bodied pups are not ideal for the job of an adventure sidekick, but they have proved skeptical trail spectators wrong every single time. These little ladies never let a tough hike stop them!

Despite them eventually showing signs of exhaustion after hiking four miles, they continued to trek on with us, hardly even waiting for us to keep up, except for the momentary pause to cool off in the many streams along the way. After completing the weekend, we couldn’t help but reflect on how lucky we were to enjoy incredible scenery and adventures without having to leave our best friends back at home.

One of our last big hikes with the senior weens was in 2020 and happened to be the longest hike they had ever done with us, proving yet again that short legs and grey furry faces were never considered to be attributes that would disqualify our pups from being our adventure sidekicks. We had no idea our hike along Chute Creek would turn out to be almost 13 miles that hot August day in 2020, but we were so determined to make it to one of the last, elusive waterfalls along the trail that promised to be stunning, and the senior weens just happened to never question our goal, never hesitating to hoof onward!

Our teeny weens, Panini and Canoe, have done their best to bring us joy and smiles in the absence of their seasoned predecessors and they have gone above and beyond with this assignment. I credit part of that to the brief apprenticeship they had with the senior weens in the summer of 2022. While there are days where I think I would trade all my current joy with the teeny weens to have my old life back with my OG dachs, there are also days where I feel guilty admitting that the teeny weens might possibly bring me more (or perhaps just… different) joy than the senior weens did.

For our first year with the teeny weens flying solo as our adventure sidekicks, we found ourselves at some of the same places we fondly remember spending time with the senior weens, including backpacking to South Colony Lakes (ironically getting caught in bad weather, just as we had with Roxie and Banana), hiking to Ice Lake and Island Lake (this time, we were the ones more out of shape than our tiny sidekicks), and snowshoeing along Chute Creek (the complete opposite weather of the summer hike we did with the senior weens).

Although the teeny weens could certainly never replace the senior weens or any of the memories we created with them, we have enjoyed creating new memories revisiting favorite, old places with them as our newly-appointed adventure sidekicks.

South Colony Lakes

Ice Lake and Island Lake

Chute Creek Falls