Lehner Kill site trail head

We have been getting good rain every day all week  I have been avoiding my usual trailhead because of the mud. It's too slippery to walk along the river. Today I opted to take Fritz and Gretel to the river via the Lehner kill site parking area. It's a 13 mile drive and about 29.minutes of driving.  Along the way I saw a voting station.  I had completely forgotten about the state's primary today!

It was very humid when we got started. I kept my eyes to the ground to avoid stepping on snakes

 It was a quick out and back. The river was swift and muddy but not at record level yet. 

We were back by 11am and soon the storm began. It ended quickly 

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I had a Yelp! event to attend in Tucson that started at 6:30pm.  This was my first event in a year. That was still hours away, but the weather forecast was iffy at best.  Rain in town does not mean it will rain in Tucson, 70 miles to the NW.  Or the other way around.  So I spent a few hours packing and organizing my recycables and realized that I had been remiss in keeping everything organized and clean in the kitchen area. This would only be my third time in Tucson this year, when normally I prefer to go every 4-6 weeks.ain

Clouds were looking rather dark but I left the house at 3:20pm.  I dropped off my mail-in ballot at the station and drove off.  I gave myself extra time for the drive because of the forecasted rain.  I-10 is a deadly stretch between  Lordsburg, NM and Phoenix.  I hate driving to Tucson when it rains.

Gretel goes to the vet

I finally took the courage to take Gretel to the ABC pet vaccine clinic in Tucson.  I had been postponing this all week because of the threat of rain.  Driving in Tucson during a rain storm is not a pleasant experience as the roads are badly maintained and the  drivers are impatient and rude. The I-10 interstate across Arizona is also one of the deadliest in the western part of the country.

This was my  first trip to Tucson since the war with Iran started.  I missed the city.

I wanted to get there by noon.  Instead, Zana pushed her way out the front door with Gretel so I decided to change plans and run the girls down to the Lehner kill site  for two miles.  That delayed my departure by 80 minutes. I figured Gretel would appreciate the run before sitting in a car for two hours.  She's a great passenger as she doesn't whine or move around much.  She just finds a comfy spot and naps.

I used today's trip to pack up some recycables, but only took enough that wouldn't impede on Gretel's comfort.  I was on the road shortly after 11am. The clinic closes at 5pm so I still had time.

The day progressed near perfectly.  The overcast sky kept the temperature cool in my Honda and there was no stifling triple digit heat in Tucson.  The bridge construction slow-go east of Tucson was minimal.  The recycling bins by Ward 2 were recently emptied.  And when I got to the ABC vaccine clinic, I was told it would be an hour wait, but I ended up getting called in within 30 minutes! 

Gretel got her rabies, Lepto #1, DHPP, and Bordetella.  I also had her microchipped.  She was a good patient but I kept her muzzled because she gets nervous when strangers touch her.  She weighed in at 64 pounds.

I left the clinic by 2:45pm; a good time to get a late lunch  somewhere before the busy Friday night dinner scene.

I chose a dog-friendly restaurant on the NE side of town: Poco and Mom's.  It's a highly-rated NewMexican restaurant with a covered patio.  But by now it was just past 4pm and a flash flood warning screeched on my phone and dining al fresco was unlikely.

The host seated me inside where two other tables were eating.  My meal was good, Gretel rested, and I left feeling stuffed.

The restaurant was close to the Morris K Udall park so Gretel and I walked the perimeter.  The sky was dark and it did drizzle at first, but the rain bypassed us and stayed in the mountains.  We walked 2.2 miles around the perimeter to a cool 78F.

The park has all kinds of sports fields for young and old, but the lower one-third of the park is just dirt paths for BMX.  Here's also where I came across several homeless encampments.  Other than that, the park offers a lot of great options.

My last errand was a stop at the nearby Coffee Xchange for a large green mint and peach iced tea.  I wanted to wait out any rush hour traffic.  The sky was still looking dark, but once I got on the road by 6pm, I left the rain clouds behind.

We got back home just minutes before dusk ended and were welcomed by five happy dogs. They were all curious to smell Gretel's butt. They left my butt alone.

Sierra Vista was dry today, but heavy rains are back for the weekend.

Fritz, Gretel, Zana down to the river

Heavy rains were forecasted for the afternoon into overnight, so I took the half pack to my favorite trailhead shortly after sunrise.

Skies were dark overcast and storm clouds to the north and south of me provided not just a cooling trend, but pretty colors as well. The recent rains have greened up the flora, which contrasted nicely with the dark sky.

The dogs were loving the cooler weather and frolicked along the way.

The river bank was a little dryer than my last trip earlier this week but river was just as muddy and free flowing.  The paw prints from earlier had all disappeared into the damp mud.

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I made the two mile mark my turn around as I didn't want to linger  While there was no immediate threat of rain, I had errands to take care of and needed to get into town before the deluge.

I lost track of time and finally made it into town to drop off Wolfie's urine sample from last week and to get groceries.  Clouds to the south were ominous-looking, and it even began to rain in big drops as I goti on Ramsey road,   This prompted me to drive a little faster to the vet's office and then Fry's foods.  It never rained while I was in town.

Then the forecast said rain after 3pm. Then 4pm. By 5pm it was changed once again to late evening and overnight.

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It drizzled a bit after sunset, but we didn't get the deluge I was looking forward to.  That was a big disappointment as I've been holding off driving to Tucson to get Gretel's vaccines updated.  Her rabies expired on the 12th.

One good thing to report;  the second of two chicks hatched this afternoon.  The first one hatched yesterday.  This is the third clutch for the dove and both chicks are very small.  Their size seems to be determined by how many eggs the mother bird has lain in the season.  Both eggs took two extra days to hatch

Hunter Canyon with Hansel

Palominas Trailhead

After three days of decent rain, I opted today to check out the Palominas trail head, the same area I wanted to check out last week but changed plans when CCSO was in the area.  I wanted to see the water flow.

I took Fritz, Gretel, and Zana.  Fritz and Zana together like to explore, leaving Gretel behind who prefers to stay close to me.

All three were excited to get out of the Honda.  Getting to this trailhead is almost three times longer than the Ramsey trailhead, so all three were anxious to start running. 

This trailhead was once popular with equestrians as the wash is used to get to the San Pedro river.  It's mostly exposed until one reaches the shady canopy of the cottonwoods.

Recent rains etched into the banks, leaving behind water marks, fallen trees, and dead debris.  The closer I got to the river, the wetter the wash  until it became impassable and I had to walk up on the ridge.  I didn't want any of the excited dogs to knock me into the runny mud.  My clean pants were already mud-caked anyway, and my Keens coated with mud.

A week ago this was a dry wash.  Today the muddy river was flowing swiftly high above its bank.  I made the Palominas bridge my turn-around.  There was no dry trail now.  Tall grass cover the ground here and the soil was very saturated/ I wanted to get back to firm ground and away from the slick mud.

To extend the walk, I stayed in the wash and walked east-southeast, past the sandn cliffs that continue to erode with each storm, and made South Paloma trail my turn-around.  This dirt road travels south just shy of the border. There is a three-foot drop from the road into the wash here; not a safe place during a flash flood. I will explore the southern part of the road another time.

I took the maintenance road back to the parking lot, passing two red crosses noting were two border crossers died. 

We were moving for just over an hour.  It was already 80F when we got back to the Honda at 8:30am.

I will come back here once the soil dries.

Wolfie goes to the vet

I made this appointment the Tuesday after Memorial Day.  By then Wolfie's limp had already been going on for at least three weeks.  Yesterday I cut his usual three-mile walk down to two because he was limping badly and I had to constantly stop to let him catch up with me.  

The appointment was for 9am.  Getting a specific dog isolated is always a chore, so I began at 8am.  On the end it wasn't too challenging this morning with raw chicken to distract the other dogs.  I put a  muzzle on him when we got to the vet office as Wolfie is  reactive to other dogs.

I didn't have to wait long to be called in. I was called in to wait in the exam room so that Wolfie wouldn't stress out over the other dog in the waiting room.  I appreciated that gesture.  My DVM was Dr Sasso.  It's the first time we met.

As for the exam, I had a full blood panel and X-rays done of his rear right leg.  Because of his reactivity, he was sedated and I was to pick him up in a few hours.  That was fine with me as I used that time to get my hair cut and vacuum out my Honda.  Two hours later, finishing up my Honda, I was told to come pick Wolfie up at 11:30am.

In short, Wolfie has a partial tear of his knee tendon and arthritis forming on it.  Two weeks kennel rest and twice daily carprofen and gabapentin.  And I was sternly told to work on weight loss as he's 105 pounds (which is two pounds less than 18 months ago.)  The goal is to get him down to 90 pounds.

Where's the river?

I had Gretel, Hansel and Wolfie in the Honda on my way to the Palominas trailhead this morning at 6:30am for a quick jaunt down to the river.  I wanted to see how low the river was here.  But then a USBP helicopter and a CCSO vehicle were heading in the same direction so I opted instead to park by the Morning  Star Cafe and walk to the abandoned Mormon Boy's camp to see the river.  This camp is just south of the Palominas bridge on the west bank of the river.

The camp has been abandoned for as long as I have been here. It was closed in the 1980s after heavy flooding. Sadly, the abandoned camp is now gated shut with a NO TRESPASSING sign posted.   The directional sign to the camp has been replaced with a NO TARGET SHOOTING sign as well.

I continued on the overgrown path south and parallel to the dry river,  I went to the dry river bed once I was back on BLM land, just to keep the dogs in the shade.

They found one small pool of muddy water just before returning to the car.

This was a short walk of just three miles.  It was disappointing due to the lack of any water and the closure of the old campsite, but the dogs enjoyed the romp.  The cloud cover diffused any heat, but even the clouds faded once we got back home.

Strawberry Moom

 Ellen had asked me if I were leading a full moon hike, so I decided to start up with the monthly ritual with a short social walk around Brown Canyon.  I posted the hike via Heylo (the Sierra Vista Hikers no longer uses MeetUp as it got too expensive) and in the end I had five people show up.  Five is a nice size group.

I took Hansel this time and he was eager to get started.  We met at the Brown Canyon loop parking lot and walked toward the ranch, then turned into the canyon until we hit the first sharp left up a hill.  We started at 7pm, sunset was at 7:29pm, and the moon rose over a saddle between two hills.  It was a perfect moon rise.

Ellen ended up showing even though she told me the day before that her mom is in the hospital and she was with her mom in Tucson.  In the end she did show up (yay!) and brought two mountainbiking friends with her, Nancy and Veronica.  They are sisters.  The lone man was Greg.  He and I walked in the front as he talked about his traveling life style now that he is retired.

We got to the hilltop at 7:40pm and the moon rose over the hill saddle at 7:52pm.  It was a fiery red!  We sat on the boulders for a bit, but I encouraged us to start walking back before it got too dark because of the many boulders on the road.  I didn't want anyone falling.

The walk was a mere 2.6 miles with an elevation of 300 feet.  We were back at our cars at 8:50pm and I was home by 9:20pm, only to go for round 2 with Fritz around the nighborhood.  He and I did 5.35 miles under a high full moon 

Desert hares everywhere!

 I was dodging Desert Hares this morning on my way to the walk meet-up with Bill and Monty in Brown Canyon at 0445 am.  I even struck and killed one that ran right into my driver's side.  I could hear the impact of the doomed hare's body against the tire.  The body was still on the road when I drove home.  I hate killing wildlife.  It was an adult hare that at least died on impact; its lifeless eyes were wide open.

Today's walk with "the guys" was 5.75 miles.  We never met another hiker/runner/rider. The guys are now starting the walk from Richard's Trail, a mile down road from the original start.  That's two miles extra.  I don't feel I'm up to their level yet, but I am feeling stronger today than when we began our morning walks two weeks ago.  The guys eventually want to work up to ten miles and they are encouraging me.  They are good company.

I took Zana this morning.  She was a bit more squirrely today, chasing after three deer early on before putting her back on leash.  There were plenty more hares all along the route.  That evening rain last Wednesday has really brought out the wildlife!

We were back home by 7am.

The dove and her chicks are slowly transforming into a loving brood.  I even spotted the mate nearby watching over the nest.  Yesterday I watched a brown trasher get too close to the nest and even I was concerned about the chicks' safety.  I want the chicks to grow strong and independent so that they can fledge the nest in two weeks.

Fritz and Wolfie down to the river

My original plan was to join the Huachuca Hiking Club on their walk up Carr Canyon, but after yesterday's hike up Carr Peak, wanted something different. Besides, seeing the river after Wednesday's rain was important. I wanted to see if new water has reinvigorated the flow. 

As soon as i could isolate Fritz to the backyard, I was ready to go. Wolfie was with him. Good enough. We got to the trailhead just before 6am. Both dogs were excited to get started. The morning air was still cool. 

The dogs know the way so it was no surprise to see both dogs in the water when I caught up to them. Yes, Wednesday's rain added volume to the river bed, but not enough to get the water flowing again. 

 I found a clutch of hatched turtle eggs near a hole in the sand. It looked to be around ten eggs. Turtle eggs incubate in 72-80 days, so these egg were laid in March. 

 I walked north to see any more changes to the water. Sections were still damp from the rain, but the surface is now drying up. I made the 2.75 mile the turn-around as I knew the last two miles back would be hot for the dogs.

Today was the first time I've come across a vehicle on the official San Pedro river trail.  It was a Toyota Tundra with a Permanent Fleet tag, CF-05326.  No body was in or near it.  The truck was parked on the road facing north.