After a morning of car tire alignments and light gardening I wanted to get away and take the dogs to the river for some free fun. It was 2:30pm when we reached the trailhead parking.
We all had a blast.
The river today was quiet. Trees are still in their dormancy and no bugs or grasshoppers were rustling through the dead grass.
We walked south on the east side of the river, walking against the north-trampled dead grasses along the shore. The dogs know the routine. As soon as I park the car they run out and head toward the river.
Raptors were in today. I spotted a prairie falcon perched in a cottonwood who took it upon herself to watch my every move. She flew off as soon as I got near the trunk of the tree to get a better photograph.
Along the river itself I spotted a red-tailed hawk. Later a mature great horned owl with its impressive wingspan took off from a low tree branch along the river.
Beaver activity has spread along the river, as colonies of these engineers are felling younger cottonwoods. Several smaller pools have gathered upstream from the dams.
I heard a deeply resonating "Plunk" near the pool. It was Sadie, who fell into one such deep pool, panicking at not feeling the river bottom. I didn't scream nor entice her, out of fear that I may induce panic in her. After a few fantic attempts to crawl out of the pool and over the steep river bank, she finally was able to pull herself out of the stagnant water.
She looked like a newborn that had just slithered threw a birth canal, all wet. But she didn't seem upset. Sara, however, was and attacked Sadie for a while. I have no idea why Sara was aggressive toward Sadie. Perhaps because she was jealous that Sadie was more wet than she?!
But Sadie soon dried off with the running she did a few moments later, her deep sink into the water a quickly-forgotten episode. She was more interested in chasing a mule deer she had spotted ahead.
The dogs were in their own world and I simply enjoyed walking slowly to absorb all the sounds. This was the quietest I've heard the river; the loudest noise I heard was when the dogs surprised a flock of Mexican mallards floating in the river. The mallards gackled and flew further south, then settled back to more river floating.
We made it past the Mormon Battalion Monument on the west side of the river, and the picnic area were the monument is. I turned around when the felled trees were getting too dense and homes appeared on my side of the river.
We got back to the truck in 75 minutes with two very wet and stinky dogs. Sam, as usual, was the clean and tidy one.
There was little trash along the river again. I have to say that trash lately along the river has subsided as fewer illegals are attempting to cross over along the exposed river. What few plastic bottles I saw I left there. It was bad enough that the next round of illegals most likely step into the multiple piles of dogshit along the immigrant trails that were left behind.
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/media-archive/Beavers%20Engineering%20Improvements%20into%20AZ%20River.pdf
We all had a blast.
The river today was quiet. Trees are still in their dormancy and no bugs or grasshoppers were rustling through the dead grass.
We walked south on the east side of the river, walking against the north-trampled dead grasses along the shore. The dogs know the routine. As soon as I park the car they run out and head toward the river.
Raptors were in today. I spotted a prairie falcon perched in a cottonwood who took it upon herself to watch my every move. She flew off as soon as I got near the trunk of the tree to get a better photograph.
Along the river itself I spotted a red-tailed hawk. Later a mature great horned owl with its impressive wingspan took off from a low tree branch along the river.
Beaver activity has spread along the river, as colonies of these engineers are felling younger cottonwoods. Several smaller pools have gathered upstream from the dams.
I heard a deeply resonating "Plunk" near the pool. It was Sadie, who fell into one such deep pool, panicking at not feeling the river bottom. I didn't scream nor entice her, out of fear that I may induce panic in her. After a few fantic attempts to crawl out of the pool and over the steep river bank, she finally was able to pull herself out of the stagnant water.
She looked like a newborn that had just slithered threw a birth canal, all wet. But she didn't seem upset. Sara, however, was and attacked Sadie for a while. I have no idea why Sara was aggressive toward Sadie. Perhaps because she was jealous that Sadie was more wet than she?!
But Sadie soon dried off with the running she did a few moments later, her deep sink into the water a quickly-forgotten episode. She was more interested in chasing a mule deer she had spotted ahead.
The dogs were in their own world and I simply enjoyed walking slowly to absorb all the sounds. This was the quietest I've heard the river; the loudest noise I heard was when the dogs surprised a flock of Mexican mallards floating in the river. The mallards gackled and flew further south, then settled back to more river floating.
We made it past the Mormon Battalion Monument on the west side of the river, and the picnic area were the monument is. I turned around when the felled trees were getting too dense and homes appeared on my side of the river.
We got back to the truck in 75 minutes with two very wet and stinky dogs. Sam, as usual, was the clean and tidy one.
There was little trash along the river again. I have to say that trash lately along the river has subsided as fewer illegals are attempting to cross over along the exposed river. What few plastic bottles I saw I left there. It was bad enough that the next round of illegals most likely step into the multiple piles of dogshit along the immigrant trails that were left behind.
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/media-archive/Beavers%20Engineering%20Improvements%20into%20AZ%20River.pdf
No comments:
Post a Comment