No, it's not been a month since I hiked. I've taken four dogs several times a week to Hunter Canyon and walked the frontage trail along the creek after work. It's often no more than an hour, as that's all Sammy can handle, but the dogs like the off-leash time away from others. No one ever bothers us so late in the evening.
Over spring break I backpacked with Ellen, Marc and Victoria, Rod and John down Havasu Falls for three days. I got to scratch that off my bucket list. I even learned I could take a dog down there, but with the arrangements Ellen made, it was best to leave the dogs home with Kevin. Too many tribal dogs could have harassed any of my dogs, too.
So yesterday Ellen and I hiked Carr for the month of March. I almost forgot it was my last chance to do so on a weekend. It was a warm, but breezy hike up. Not much different that last month, with even more water in the falls for the dogs to drink out of. The healthy aspen are budding but the oaks and pines are looking very dry. Some trees are so dry from the drought that they are looking yellow from the distance.
We started at 12:30pm at a decent pace, but when we got to the intersection of the Carr Peak Trail and Old Sawmill Trail, another couple with two dogs, one being a three-year-old GSD and the other a young Golden Retriever, we had to stop a few times to let the other couple ahead of us so that my dogs wouldn't bark. Luckily I had my leashes ready. Neither dog was happy being on leash. I am glad Zeke stayed home, as he would really have barked and made this a bad experience for everyone.
The wind wasn't too noticeable until that second mile up. It was downright cold! I never took my jacket off once I put it on near the top. The blimp that's usually surveilling the horizon was kept to the ground today. A thick layer of dust was all along the horizon.
We got to the peak just before the other couple. Both dogs were on their leashes and tied to a manzanita away from the main peak. The girls had an entire packet of turkey bacon that Kevin said was starting to get bad. They also each had two hot dogs, so they ate an entire meal this time. My day pack is going to be very popular for the dogs!
