A Walking Companion

A Saturday or two ago, I decided to go on a day hike towards the back of the National Park. In the back section there is an old mansion called Muckross, two lakes and the Torc waterfall. The hike takes about an hour to reach the back area, so its too far for me to go during my wanderings after school during the week. 

On my way out of town for my adventure, I saw a dog wandering around.

 he came up to me and I petted him for a bit.I noticed he didn't have a collar but seemed in good shape. I've learned that some of the local's dogs wander during the day and then find their way back home at night. I started to walk on but I noticed he was following me. 

He ended up joining me for the whole hike. He would walk far ahead but turn around ever so often to make sure I was still there.

  

 We kindly  looked after each other. He would wait while I took a picture and I would wait while he ran up a side trail. A few times I thought he was going to run off but he always stuck with me. He never barked once, he would say hello to the people and dogs going by but then keeping trotting on. 

We made it all the way to the Torc waterfall. 

It's absolutely beautiful, the waterfall flows down for half a mile to the nearest river. All the rocks were covered with bright green moss. I couldn't get over how vibrant the colors were. 

I was exhausted by the time we got there so I sat on a rock at the bottom of the falls. To my surprise my walking companion joined me. 

It was calming sitting next to the falling water, smelling the wet moss and petting my new friend.
After resting a bit, we headed back towards town. he gave me a heart attack a few times because he liked to       run across the road to investigate and then run back across.

 We both made it back though in one piece. I was curious about what he would do once we got back. I made sure we went back to the horse carriage area where we met. he followed me for a bit longer but then started wandering elsewhere. I asked one of the carriage drivers if they had seem him before or knew who he belonged to. The driver said that the dog's name is Oscar Wilde and he wanders around during the day and goes home at night.

It makes me wonder what other adventures Oscar Wilde has been on if he was willing to walk with me on my adventure. And if his owner even knows them.

I enjoyed having a walking partner and he definitely made my day much better. Perhaps I'll have to write a children's story one day about my walking companion, Oscar Wilde.