Along the River trail

The dogs have gotten used to their daily romp in the forest. When the sun gets behind the mountains and casts a shadow over the eastern trails, I take the dogs in the van and drive up Hunter Canyon. I can no longer escape the dogs' yearning eyes when it gets to be around 5:30pm.

Yesterday, Mother's Day, I decided to do something differently and take them to the river, a longer drive (nine miles one way) but more remote and peaceful. I have yet to come across anyone on this trail. The last time I was here was with Minnie last year, when she met that pack of javelina. This time I watched the trail carefully for any signs of wildlife. No one here comes to shoot at live trees like they do in Hunter Canyon, as this section is managed by the Bureau of Land Management. No firearms are allowed.

The sun was still high as I parked the van around 5:55pm. All four dogs immediately pushed themselves outside, Minnie even whimpered because she couldn't get outside fast enough. They peed in the parking lot, and followed me on the trail. The grass now is quite dead and tall. I saw no coyotes, no javelina, and let them run ahead of me. Even Sammy looked good and followed along quite well. Giving him two tablets of glucosamine-condroitin does help his pain.

The grass is quite tall in this section, with a lot of coyote scat on the trail. I watched out for snakes and coyotes, calling the dogs back when they got too far ahead of me. This was a very peaceful walk, with no other person in sight.

We made it to the river at 6:15pm. There was still plenty of sunlight and I let the dogs play in the water for a bit. The low sun was reflecting through the trees into the water as the dogs splashed around. This was a very peaceful turn-around. The only noise was the barking of the dogs. My eyes were always wandering around, keeping watch of other people or wildlife.

Four cows had wandered just off the trail on our return walk. Where did they come from? Or where they there the entire time, and just laying low in the grass? The dogs went ahead of me, barked at the cattle but didn't chase them. Even Sammy got into a trot to join the pack! He used to be quite the cow chaser in his younger years, but now he and the dogs mind my commands. The cows moved off the trail and we walked past the herd to our car. The entire walk took around 50 minutes. By now the sun was ready to set behind the mountains.

This walk is no more than two miles. This is about as much as Sammy can handle. He got another glucosamine tablet when we got home.