This morning we slept in. When Tommy woke me up he said it was 8am. When I got out of bed, poured some coffee I noticed the microwave said 10:15. I reset it to 8:15. An hour later he told me he was 'Just Kidding"! It really was 10:15 when I got up. Damn it!
The first thing I did today was book our flights from Denver to Charlotte for Kyle's Graduation from Boot Camp. It will take place on the 30th. We should be in Steamboat Springs, CO by the 25th and will drive to Denver from there for our flights. Friends in Steamboat will take care of the animals while we are gone. My little sister and my Mom live in Charlotte, NC so we will fly into there and drive to Columbia, SC. We are very excited. We have not seen Kyle in 8 weeks. Although we write each other constantly, we miss him terribly.
The other day we ordered a new camera with extra this and extra that and yesterday it was delivered. Today's blog pictures will be taken with the new and improved one. I hope they come out good.
If you're not a dog lover, you wont enjoy this blog, sorry!
Somewhere around 12:30 we finally had our crap together and left for Mills Trail with Sire. We hit the dirt around 1pm. The first rock, where you see Tommy in the water and Sire just sitting there with a bunch of kids waiting behind Sire, is the worst part of the trail. There is a huge rock that you have to cross to get to the real trail. The rock is angled somewhere around 18-20 degrees. The bad part about that is there is a very fine sand that blows and sits on these rocks. No matter how well Lands End makes your hiking sandals, it cannot stop you from what they call 'skiing'. Sliding on your ass!
We could not get Sire in the water to swim by the rock because he could not touch the bottom and was scared. We talked him through the first part but he refused to complete it and just sat there. Eventually we had 3 boys push him in the water. He was growling, and the kids were scared, but we assured them he would not eat them. He was just really nervous. Someone, BLM (Bureau of Land Mgmt.) should build a pass through around this rock. I remember it from last year I hated it then too.
Once past the monster rock you walk through the 'Sahara Desert'. Its an open field with a path of deep red sand. Its only for 1/4 mile so its easy to survive, but on days with no breeze its rough. Today was not one of those days. The weather was beautiful. 85 degrees and clear blue skies.
After the 'Sahara' you enter the weeds. In and out of the sun and shade. A wonderful place and breeding ground for snakes. You walk along the river the entire trail and Sire would peak in and out the water. He had a great, great time. We saw no snakes.
We walked across the river 11 times. The thing about crossing a river that has nothing but river rocks on the bottom is - when you have no depth perception its bad enough, but then you step on a rock and it decides to relocate itself while your stepping on it. Not Good! The water isn't moving fast but its still a bit tricky at times. Most of the times crossing I held onto Tommy. If I was going down, so was he.
We ended up at a local hangout where the high school kids go. It is a natural waterfall where they slide down on the rock below the water. On both sides of the waterfall there are cliffs where tons of kids jump off. They seem to have a blast. Sire was wanting to play with everyone. There were several other dogs there and they were all excited. Too excited. It was boom, splash, cheers, repeated every 10-15 seconds. Everyone was having so much fun.We pulled Sire away in fear of a fight breaking out. These other dogs were as big as Sire and if something stirred up there would definitely have been blood shed. There were German Sheppards and Boxers and Pitbulls. All really powerful dogs. It was chaotic with all the noise and jumping and splashing and people.
On the way back of the hike we took our time and let Sire play in the river for a while at each crossing. Overall, I think he day was full and he had plenty of exercise. He slept the entire way home in the truck. The trail was only 1 1/2 miles long and we were on it for almost 3 hrs. It was a fun day.
We had Tommy's chili for dinner tonight, finally, and yes, it was good! Thanks for reading and enjoy the pictures!
Not sure what the plans are for tomorrow. Maybe a trail with the Razor.
