Walk along the river

Bill contacted me in the morning and asked if I wanted to get together for a dog walk.  His shepherd-heeler dog Domino is back with him and wants to take Domino on group hikes.  He wants to socialize him with other dogs.  As a male dog, I first thought of Sweetie, then decided to take Zeke, and then somehow Minnie pushed her way through the door and into the Honda.  Would Domino be overwhelmed?  Sadie stayed at home as she's proven to be the temperamental dog around other dogs.

We met at 11am at the Palominas trail head for the San Pedro Riparian NCA trail.  I take my dogs here for off-leash romping and seldom come across other people except Border Patrol agents or neighborhood equestrians.  We were the only people in the parking lot.  Bill and Domino were already waiting as I drove up.  Domino was on leash and watched us.  Zeke jumped out and there was tail wagging.  Minnie rolled out and there was happy barking and butt-sniffing, and Sweetie leaped out to sniff Domino.  There was no aggression from any of the dogs.  Confident that the dogs were content, Bill took Domino off leash and down we went to the wash which takes us to the river.  All four dogs ran down the wash ahead of us.

Domino seemed more happy being around other dogs than my dogs were of him. Domino showed an interest in Minnie.  Zeke stayed with me, and Sweetie kept her distance from the other dogs, as she usually does.  She is at heart a shy dog who is most comfortable around dogs and people she is familiar with.

Once we got to the river, all the dogs got in.  Here is where Domino and Minnie did the most playing.  She had her stick and Domino wanted it, too.  The river wasn't as full as I thought it would be from recent rains, so we opted to walk the river bed north for a mile to give the dogs some exercise.  Sweetie hadn't been walked since Friday and I was grateful to get her out.  She was grateful for that, too, and took speeding leaps up over the bank of the river and back down again.  It was in the upper 50s and a tad chilly, but this is the kind of weather that active dogs like.

Bill was worried that Domino would take off and not come back, but he assimilated into the pack right away and ran where the other dogs ran.  He was a model playmate and never got out of sight, and came back to Bill when he whistled for him.  We both were very pleased at how well he played with my dogs.

We walked for 1.8 miles, up to East Boundary Road where a house borders on the river and the river narrows.  Here is where I usually turn around, as the river resurfaces and walking here requires water shoes.  We chatted, as we hadn't been on a hike together since our climb up Carr Peak in October.  We updated each other on our lives.  His divorce was finalized and he got custody of Domino earlier this month and wants to spend more time with the dog.  Domino seems to be an ideal dog for Bill's busy lifestyle.

The rains from last week must have swept some floods through, as the river bed was smooth in many parts and new ripples in the banks are obvious.  This smoothness makes walking on the sand easy. There were a few wet areas that we were able to avoid without jumping over deep cuts in the river.  I pointed out some of the landmarks along the way:  the dangling rope at the mile mark (now cut off), the shrine in memory of a deceased wife and mom, the upturned rusty Chevrolet.  The leaves on most of the trees are now gone, but the trees still provide a shady canopy.  Walking here is calming for me.

Bill had never been this far up the river, so to him today's walk was a photographic journey.  He stopped to photograph everything, from the toadstools growing on the tree trunks, to rusty cars in the sand,  shrines and cicada exoskeletons.  Hiking with him, I've learned, is always a photographic adventure as he sees beauty in everything.  "Oh wow, how beautiful!"

One thing we didn't see were raptors.  We saw no Great Horned Owls, falcons, hawks.  Our dogs romped along the banks, sniffed around, and stayed with us.  Bill and I were very pleased at how well all the dogs got along.

There was a chill in the late morning air.  The sky was covered in wind-swept cirrus clouds.  My old black fleece sweater barely kept me warm.  It got warmer as we returned to the cars 90 minutes later, when I realized that I had lost one of my leashes that I had strapped around my neck.  I ended up coming back to the trail two hours later with Sadie and the entire pack and found the leash in the middle of the creekbed, standing out on the smooth sand.  It had gotten cooler now at 3pm, with a low front moving in.

I had walked six miles.  The dogs were well-exercised today.