I missed the Christmas sunrise. The previous two Christmases began with colorful sunrises. Not this year. The sky was cloudless. It was a warm day, unlike the continued arctic cold along the Great Lakes and especially Buffalo, NY.
The neighborhood was quiet. I stayed inside until 9am and then went outside to clean up the front. Between the trash there and in the back of the truck, I nearly filled up a trash bin of old clothes, wet books and cardboard. The stuff needed to go. No need to hold on to any of that stuff.
I wanted to do something different today and take the current back yard dogs (Hansel, Sahne, Fritz and Gretel) out for a long walk where few people go. My choice was the San Pedro Riparian Natural Conservation Area trail to the border. The only people on that trail are US Border Patrol, bow hunters, and illegals, even though this is an official trail along a dirt road.
This pack is tight. They all follow each other and stay together. They also stayed near me within voice command. I only worry about Fritz around other people. Today, though, I saw no one.
I let the dogs run to the river near the bridge but I myself didn't walk that far west. The dogs ran back to me and we started the walk south toward the border. I knew this would be a long walk and I wanted to conserve my energy for the five-mile walk to the border. This is an open, exposed and boring trail, flanked by catclaw and other pokey flora.
Past the two-mile mark going south, I took a mowed trail going west back to the river, I was here a few days ago on the western bank. The river here is across a wide flood plain.
I made it to the border at 3:20pm. This gave me two hours to make the return walk before dark.
The border here was reinforced with a higher iron gate under Trump. I didn't walk on the border road as there is now a sign saying the road is for administrative use only. Does this include pedestrians?
The grass here is six feet tall. I felt like walking in a maze, with the tall grass on either side of me.
All water puddles had dried up from the last rain and snow, so this was a quick walk back to the truck. I still had plenty of daylight left.
I walked 9.57 miles in 3:45 hours. The only thing of significance were the many raptors I saw fly over the river.
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