Desperate for the trails

My poodle mix Winston is desperate for trail running.  It has been rainy here and caused the trails to be quite muddy.  We have been going to the local dog park and some various pastures that have dried out a little but this isn't enough.  Winston heads straight for any clumping of trees looking for a trail.  He even heads down the game trails.  He runs into the trees desperately searching for a trail, barking once he finds one and then runs back to me as if to say, "It's here, I found it!"  I then just keep walking along the pasture areas and he continues this pattern of looking into the trees, sometimes running into them and the occasional excited bark before returning.
Winston has tendencies to be obsessive about things.  Fetch, for example, will occur with any item he can find from hedge balls to ripping roots from the ground to proudly present to you to throw.  Yesterday we went to the local dog park, which is only about 1/2 mile from the hiking trails we frequent.  We walked along the pastured area and played frisbee.  Once we started to frisbee back toward the car Winston just took off and went straight to the car dropping his frisbee at the back door.  I was kind of surprised that he was ready to head home but I loaded stuff up and we headed out of the parking lot.  Once we were leaving he started whining, turning circles and acting all excited again.  I was quite confused.  So, I pulled over at our hiking trail head to let him out and see what was wrong.  Well, I was fooled by a dog.  Once I opened the door and invited him out he immediately took off toward the trailhead, bouncing and yelping with joy.  Luckily there wasn't a car around since the recent rains, and threatening weather probably encouraged most people to stay away from the trails.  I walked around with Winston for a little while near the edges of the woods and he ran into the woods onto the trails and back to me yelping and barking with  joy.  I wished that I could explain to his little poodle brain that the trails were too muddy to go but he didn't care.  He ran through the trails leaving streams of mud flying in the air. After about 20 minutes of running and yelping we headed back to the car and he had flecks of mud covering his belly and sides like a car that had been driven through mud roads.  His face with his long tongue hanging was of pure joy ready to find another trail to run on.

I totally understand how he feels.  There really isn't anything better than an isolated trail to run on in cool spring weather.  I have created a trail hound in Winston and I'm thrilled.  He is going to be a wonderful little hiking buddy for years to come.