I could see it in Journey’s eyes as he hopped on the ottoman in front of our recliner on a recent morning. I was sipping my first cup of coffee and slowly becoming coherent as our pooch tried to relay the message. With a sharp, crisp tone, he made it clear he required attention.

You need to know that Journey tends to ramble on at times, struggling to make these silly humans he lives with understand his wants and needs (spoiler alert: his wants and needs are really all needs in his opinion).

At any rate, today he was especially assertive — I got the message loud and clear: We (he specifically said we) needed a long walk in the woods.

I was surprised that he got to the point so quickly. Usually we get this “Rowwwww-raowwww-ruwwwwww, a-lamma-lama-ding-dong (OK- I embellished the last part) from him until he thinks he’s gotten through to us.

So now that I had the marching orders, I got breakfast in both of us, and thought through our options. This was a picture-perfect weather day recently — no wind, temperatures expected in the mid-70s, so what better time than to do a little exploring?

I got dressed, grabbed Journey’s leash and hiked the pup into the truck, and we made for the west side of Hayden Lake.

I’d heard the trail system at English Point, off Lancaster and English Point roads, is just as popular as all the others in the area, but since we had never been out there, that was the winner this day.

We grabbed a few more swallows of water and locked the truck, Journey bouncing to the trail like the happy-go-lucky, carefree soul that he is.

After checking the map at the trailhead on the east side, I decided we should check out the Grey Trail, which is just under a mile long, as a nice warmup. The two trails on the east side of English Point Road are designated for hikers and dogs, while the three on the west side (Blue, Yellow and Green) are open to hikers, dogs, horseback riders, mountain bikers and (in winter) cross-country skiers.

Doing the Grey Trail clockwise, we headed east, meandering through some slight downhill sections, as I took note of several uprooted Ponderosa trees while Journey tried to acquire the scent of the scene.

The trail is fairly wide, with areas spanning 6 feet while other sections are more like 3 feet. It is well established, and the sights and sounds give pause for inner reflection, that is until Journey bolts toward a sight or sound that picqued his interest.

After probably more than a half mile the trail has curved around and is heading southwest before it begins to have some incline. Definitely a beginner/easy trail, the hilly area is easily traversed, with no break needed.

Once we got back to the trailhead, I decided it was time to cross the road and sample the fare over there. Again, we took off on the shortest trail (Blue), which is .8 miles, just like the Grey Trail we had just conquered. We again did the clockwise route, and soon were faced with some horse apples, which Journey had to investigate. Once he decided it was time to move on, we were once again underway. This trail was definitely single-track, and the pup and I took turns at the point.

The Blue Trail has a little more elevation, and combined with the horse apples and rough trail (thanks to the horse traffic) it takes a little more effort to motivate yourself around. I thought to myself that the width on the trails to the east and the smoothness, combined with no dropping and horses/mountain bikers keep most of the hiking traffic on the east side.

Just like the Grey Trail, the Blue had plenty of exposed roots that required attention, and both Journey and I managed to trip over a few, as we gawked at the scenery. On a nice, uphill section, we bolted in unison to a nice running pace, since we tend to attack hills in a “see-who-makes-it-to-the-top-first” contest. In this case, it was a dead heat.

I’m told by my hiking (and biking) friends that the longer trails have even more variety of scenery and elevation, and I’ll make sure to get back out there when we have more time to tackle the whole system.

There are restrooms at the trailhead/parking lot. When we left, there were more than 10 vehicles in the lot, although I saw no horse trailers.

It took the two of us about an hour and a half to cover the two trails, and we hydrated and loaded up, reversing our route back to Post Falls going west on Lancaster, then south on Huetter Road.

Journey took a quick nap on the trip back, no doubt trying to process all the sights, smells and scenery he’d just encountered. Once home, he devoured his lunch and soon was fast asleep on the ottoman as I caught up on a little television news.

As the commercials took over the screen, I pondered our travels. Sure it was a nice day and a relatively easy 15-minute drive out to the trails, and the quiet hike was just what both of us needed.

We’ll see what Journey decides to tell us the next time he gets up on his soap box (ottoman) and tries to get his (English) Point across.