I had a late start, waking up just before sunrise in a light rain. The clouds hid the sun until almost 8am, which got me up later than usual to walk the dogs Gretchen, Sweetie and then Hansel. Our 8am meetup was postponed till after noon before we drove off.
We stopped at Ramiro's taqueria off Valencia before starting our walk just past 2pm. It was in the low 60s when we started our walk, and what rain clouds had lingered over Tucson had dissipated.
We walked past apartment complexes, several parks and parking lots for the loop, then several mobile home parks with grumpy dogs before we came past our first saguaros along the path. The Rillito River was dry, and few homeless were visible from the path. We turned around on Oracle Road, just west of the Tucson Mall. Most users today were cyclists.
Both dogs did quite well. Gretel hadn't been on a hike in a while, but she completed the 8.3 miles like a champ. She played gently with Trace and licked him a few times, never once showing any aggression toward him.
We timed the walk well. We were back at the Honda at 6:20pm as dusk fell Users of the Loop can only use the path officially from dawn to dusk and cops on bikes do patrol the area.
Our next goal was a quick stop at MotoSonora (Dillinger's off Oracle Road is closed on Sundays as we discovered) for a quick beer. The brewery has a small dog run but two women and their black husky-shepherd were having fun chasing a ball in the dog play area. Trace played with that dog but Gretel didn't take too well to that dog, so we stayed in the biergarten just outside the dog area and left before the place closed at 8pm.
I needed this day away from the house and dogs, but now must get back into hiking again.
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