Snowy Outing

Thursday, March 21, 2019

Recently, after what seemed ages of home confinement, the dogs needed to run freely in BLM. I prepared to cope with still-standing snow by finding and lacing on Sorel Boots that had been stored for years. I guessed the popular trail would already have been beaten down by earlier hikers exercising their dogs.

In previous winters, I’ve taken the dogs to that very trail, and in snow hiked a couple of miles. The first mile follows a canal where Miles, my nutty Border Collie, loves to lounge and snorkle in freezing snow melt. After that mile, we usually turn to the BLM’s desert side and make a wide circle back to the car. In snowy winters, it’s an easy, fun route.

This winter’s snow is deeper. My first hint of this on entering the BLM, was driving through a water-filled ditch that challenged my four-wheel drive; my second was nearly getting stuck while testing parking spaces for stability; a third was seeing the canal trail not much beaten-down by previous walkers. There was no turning back, with the dogs eager to be outside and noisy Osix screaming in excitement.

My Sorels were perfect for traipsing in snow, but this snow-deep trail turned walking into hard work. Looking around, I saw that deep snow hid rocks and ankle-twisting holes, so we’d best not venture to the desert side. Instead, we’d turn around after the first mile.

My out-of-condition dogs and I became tied before managing to cover a half mile. Even Miles slowed down, very unusual. It’s hard to read Ranger and Louie who make a point of staying with me. The most obvious signal that we needed to turn around was Osix’s behavior. She began hanging behind and moving forward only reluctantly. Her subdued body language said she’d soon slip off and return to the car.

That convinced me to reverse direction. Osix disappeared and Miles soon followed her. My steadfast fellows, Ranger and Louie, stayed with their slogging dog-mom.

At the Jeep, after a quick head count, we headed home.

Dear Friends, Hope you saw last night’s biggest Supermoon: gorgeous! Diana