Babocomari again

I do like that area, but it was originally not in the plan.

I walked Sweetie shortly after sunrise, following her closely as she walked the block she has done for years.  I don't always have her on leash because of her arthritic spine; I don't want her to have any more pain.  It was a mild morning, but tomorrow we are returning to the 20s.

Fritz and Gretchen were on my mind, though, so after the walk with Sweetie, I drove back to the LDS Boys Camp route to rewalk yesterday's track in the hopes of finding them.

Another woman in a blue hatchback came to the trailhead at the same time. We didn't talk,  but I knew she had a dog with her by the way she leaned into her car for a while before leaving it.  She had at least three middle-sized dogs with her.

I walked the route counter-clockwise, just like yesterday, walking straight south.  I was barely on the trail when both dogs appeared on the trail 0.2 miles away, staring back at me.  I didn't want to call them just in case the woman was too close behind me and the dogs ran toward her.  I remained silent, watching them.

I was relieved to see they had stayed together the last 15 hours.  But Gretchen took off running away from me while Fritz hesitated, still looking at me while also watching his sister.  She ran across the field moving northwest and he then ran after her.  The woman saw the dogs,too, and via hand signals I let her know those were my dogs.  She understood and turned eastward, walking straight to the LDS camp.  I continued walking southward.

I called the dogs to me when the woman was out of sight.  Both dogs immediately ran toward me, much like last Sunday, jumping up with joy.  I put them both on leashes and walked calmly back to the truck.  Neither dog pulled on the leash.  This showed me that they were exhausted from their overnight adventure. I even noticed a slight limp in Fritz's front left leg.  There were no other visible injuries, thankfully, no sign of a javelina attack.

I put both dogs in the truck and fed them some raw chicken as I contemplated walking a bit more by myself.  Just then Susan called.  She wanted to know if I were going to hike the Babocomari today.  She had yet to see that area.  I was more than glad to go there, as the LDS camp area was too muddy from recent rains.  This also gave me the opportunity to take the dogs home so that they could rest, while I try to take a few other dogs from the back yard. We agreed to meet at 10am.  

Fritz and Gretchen were happy to hop on the bed and rest. They didn't complain. I then went to the back yard and took the first two dogs out the gate: Hansel and Sahne.  They are my two best hiking dogs as they stay near me, have excellent recall, and are friendly with dogs and people. Sahne, however, is always hyper and can't stop jumping up.

It was only 9:15am, enough time to drive to McD's for coffee. This drive, however, stressed out the dogs as they wanted to go for a walk! They were restless while we waited for Susan at our designated meetup place.

Weather was ideal for this hike: overcast and in the upper 50s at first.  It warmed up to the mid 60s in the end.

There were cows near the parking area.  This was a first.  I knew there were cows using the land, as evident from all the cow paddies, but I only saw them in the river.  Today three cows were feeding from a blue bucket.

I took Susan on the short cut.  She was liking the walk.  We even met a hunter coming back from a morning hunt.  His wife had killed a javelina and was letting it  cure for a while.

The nice thing about hiking with Susan is that she likes to explore.  We got off the railbed and walked along the river instead.  I saw lovely sections for the first time, including washes that originate from the San Pedro.  I will post these pictures here to show new views of the Babocomari.