Thompson Ridge

It was a cool day, with overcast skies and a slight breeze.  I didn't work and wanted to take advantage of a short hike nearby, since I took a day off from walking the dogs yesterday.  The Thompson ridge, with an elevation gain of 1024' and a three-mile round-trip hike, was my choice today.   It's easy to get to once in Ash Canyon, as the trail head is the last parking area on the road before the steep trail uphill begins.   I took Sadie, Sweetie, Zeke and Minnie.   There was no one else around. This was Sweetie's fourth hike.  She is showing improvement in learning pack skills but still has the independent streak by going off on her own and not coming back to me until she feels she is ready.

We started the hike at 2:41pm.  It was a cool 65F.  I wore no jacket but wore a long-sleeved cotton t-shirt and jeans. The grasses are now dead, the seed heads are popping, and the vegetation is turning brown.  The wildflowers are gone for the season. A few deciduous trees are still in some color, but it's dry in the forest.   The one lone contrast was the dark grey sky coming from the southwest.  I witness a red-tailed hawk take flight near the start, watched a young tarantula scammer across the trail, and on my way back down, slowed down for a garter snake.

I felt good going uphill today.  Twice my hat nearly blew off from a strong gust, but I only stopped briefly. The cool air seemed to help the dogs as well, since I accidentally left my water in my backpack at home.  (I luckily had a bowl of ice water in the van that they got on their return).

Sweetie kept the lead the entire time.  Sadie and Zeke stayed closest to me.  Sweetie is slowly learning to stay on the trail, rather than explode in lightning speed off the trail.  As long as she does that with no one else around, I'm not so worried, but this behavior does not make me feel easy with her in public around larger groups of people.  This trail ten years ago saw heavy drug trafficking, just from the trash the narcos would leave behind or hide behind dark crevasses.  Today I saw no evidence of any trafficking, but I kept my ears and eyes open for any people and watched the dogs' body language closely.  They, too, gave no hint of any intrusion.

The trail switchbacks for 1.5 miles to the ridge.  The trail is also badly rutted, so watching one's footing is important.  I felt good today and even shaved off four minutes.  Once on the ridge, I sat down briefly to take some photographs, and then went back down.  The entire hike took me 1:19:45pm.

The dogs went straight to the van ahead of me, but Sweetie wanted to explore some more down the road.  She didn't come right away, but luckily calling her for water brought her back to me.