Quiet Walk With Jamie

 Over the years I have become more and more convinced that my dog is a mind reader.

LC needed to go into town yesterday and I did not want to go with him.

More to the point I wanted to be alone for a while.

When I woke up yesterday morning, saw the watery sun trying to push through the clouds and then walked outside onto the deck still in my pajamas and realized that it was going to be a warm day, I made the instant decision to take my dog for a long walk on the BLM land in back of the house.

I puttered around the house waking up, drinking coffee, catching up on the news, checking emails, getting dressed, with my dog watching me intently the entire time.

She knew.

I have no idea how she knew but she knew.

Jamie followed me from room to room with a look of anticipation and guarded patience on her furry face and I kissed her on the forehead, loving my dog.
Eventually I grabbed my pack and enough water for both of us, James excitedly began barking and we headed out.
Within twenty minutes I realized that this was perhaps the warmest day we have had in Cody so far.
For the first time since we arrived in this town just over two months ago I was very warm and I resolved to clock watch as we walked so that I could keep my mutt hydrated.
If you click on the picture above it will enlarge (click again and it will enlarge even more) to see part of a small herd of antelope that obviously roam freely in this section of BLM land.
I see them almost every single time I head out that way..........

Antelope blend so well with the surrounding terrain that when I am trying to take pictures of them I am usually shooting blind.  

When it is sunny outside I cannot see them in my camera view finder unless they are very close, so the antelope are in the front right corner of this picture.

Regardless, I liked this picture because of the subtle color bands seen in the landscape........

I like Wyoming very much.

I like the very openess of it.  The surrounding mountains.  

The fact that Yellowstone is only fifty miles away in one direction, the Bighorn Mountains in another and the Tetons just south of the Yellowstone.  

I love the abundance of wildlife and farm animals we have seen in just the short time we have been in Wyoming - antelope, deer, big horn sheep, prairie dogs, horses, cattle, goats, sheep, pheasants, golden eagles, hawks, geese, pelicans, cranes, rabbits, elk - and look forward to more wildlife as we explore the state over the coming months.

I like the friendly and unassuming and down-to-earth people we have met since arriving.

And I am enjoying becoming acclimated to the cowboy environment that this state is so well known for.  The horses and ranches and cowboy hats and belt buckles and.........you get the idea.

But there are things I miss about both Juneau and Tennessee - primarily water and trees.

No place is ever perfect even though this place fits us very well, and we are very happy here in this high plains desert environment.

And even though it is supposed to rain a good part of the week I think I'll try and talk my Mountain Boy into going to Yellowstone this week.  I would really like to see it and it may satisfy my need for a pine tree and swollen icy river fix............

As Jamie and I made our way through the gate close to where I got my (first) flat tire, instead of heading south towards the hills I veered west onto a trail that I knew would take us down into a valley.

One of the channels that irrigates surrounding ranches snakes throughout this valley, making it tough to negotiate all the way across the valley at this time of year.

Jamie and I headed down this unexplored trail and I absently wondered if we would be able to find a way across it.

We were walking a very long straight-away and after a few minutes I looked up to see this guy.

Bulls and I have crossed paths a number of times over the past weeks and thankfully we have respected each others space.

I was hoping that having James with me, that respect would still hold.

I pulled Jamie's leash a little closer to me unsure of how she would react to this very large animal in front of her, and I monitored both dog and bull closely as we continued walking.........

This is a smart dog.

Put a bunny in front of her or a cat or an antelope and she goes ballistic, fighting to be free to happily attempt a catch-and-rip-off-its-head run.

When we saw buffalo along the side of the highway past Wapiti not long after arriving in Wyoming she did not make a sound.  

And she did not make a sound yesterday as we approached and then bypassed this watchful bull........

He chewed, he watched, he visually followed us for a long time, and then went back to grazing...........

One more water break for both me and my mutt and we headed down the steep hill into the valley.

By this time I was very warm and wishing the BLM land had more trees.

No shade on high prairie deserts unless you are heading high into the hills where the pine trees are (or maybe when trees in low lands finally get their leaves).  

We were heading into a valley of water-fed yellow and green grasses and tall sage bushes, and I was greatly enjoying the isolation and alone time with my dog..........

As we continued further into the valley I looked over at Carter Mountain and saw that a storm was beginning to build.
We still had plenty of time to explore and get home before the forecasted rain arrived, but I resolved to continue to monitor the sky............

Nose in every sage bush and clump of grass along the way.............

Looking back the way we had come.

A steep and rocky downhill and then dirt trail along the bed of the valley..........

May 17 and still no leaves on the trees.

Yellow and green and healthy looking grasses along both banks of the fast flowing canal.........

I looked over on the opposite side of the canal at the bridge and concrete barriers that channeled water into two separate canals and realized that I was directly opposite of the place I had taken pictures the other day during my bike ride.

Rather than retracing our steps back the way we had come, I hoped that I would be able to find a way across the canal so that we could walk the dirt road and then the gravel/paved road back to the house..........

The first thing I did when we arrived at the water was throw a rock into the water to try and gauge just how deep it was.  I heard a "thwump" as the rock hit the water.  Deep but how deep??

The canal behind the house is about waist deep.  On me.  So a lot deeper on my mid-sized pup.

And again I did not know how muddy the bottom was.  

I had already experienced first hand getting sucked thigh deep in mud and sand along a beach in Juneau and did not want to play that game again.  

Next I searched for low spots along the bank - maybe we could make a jump for it.

I found only one spot that I could (maybe) make.  I wasn't sure Jamie's little legs would make it.

I looked at the water again, and as I visually followed the canal could see that it was running fast and running faster where the water converged into two streams.

That and I could see pieces of old metal jutting up from the water.  Not good.

I was becoming more doubtful that we would find a way across this canal.

Walking along the bank I found this board, tested it and it held fine.

Jamie wanted no part of it.

She would not lead.  She would not follow.  And she squirmed when I picked her up. 

Nope.  We were going to end up swimming if I pushed this option too hard and that would not be good...........

My baby girl after tentatively taking a drink from the fast moving water..........

After looking around for another possible option that would work for both woman and dog I looked up at the concrete structure that was effectively sending water throughout the ranching community we were in.

Maybe there was a walkway up there.

Jamie enthusiastically followed me as I threw my pack over a barbed wire fence, crawled underneath it, and then pulled up the lower wire so my dog could follow.

As I was crawling underneath the stupid wire I was thinking "I'm getting too old for this shit" but my disgust at crawling around in the dirt was soon forgotten when we both climbed up the hill and scanned the terrain.

The board across the river from our elevated perch..........

No.

This was no place to be dragging a dog.  

My James happily followed me back down the hill so that we could crawl one more time in the dirt before heading back the way we had come.

We had been out for about two hours at that point and after both of us resting and then drinking more water it was time to head for the house.........

Climbing back up the steep hill I decided to head across country instead of staying on trail and again crossing paths with Big Bull.

Bush whacking takes on a whole different and easier dimension in this part of the country than it does in either Alaska or Tennessee.

I can't even begin to describe how many times my arms and legs have been torn up while bush whacking in the eastern part of the country.  

And how many times I have been in terrain so thick with vegetation that my team could have been 100 feet from our goal and not even know it.

In fact there were times when we WERE 100 feet from our goal and did not even know it.

Yesterday bush whacking simply meant walking across a wide open space instead of a wide open trail.........

The trail we quickly hooked up with followed the fence line that was in back of multiple ranches.

We had not traveled far from civilization in reality even though we had walked a few miles.

Heading predominantly west on the way out (in the same general direction I had taken on bike the other day on the opposite side of the canal) kept us close............

As always Heart Mountain led us home..........

Old abandoned vehicles at the back end of someone's property........

I took this picture only because of the donkey logo on the side of the red and blue pickup truck..........

LC told me before we left for our walk, that he had seen a huge jack rabbit running down the middle of the road that morning.

On the way back and within only half a mile of the house Jamie suddenly flew into a full on, barking, let me at him, pulling on the leash dash for freedom.

I looked up to see what had sent her into her mad frenzy and saw our huge jack rabbit running first on the trail and then into the adjoining field.

I took a bunch of pictures very quickly and without seeing him in the view finder, trying to capture his image before he was gone for good.

This is the only one that turned out when I finally caught up with him resting for a brief moment.

It was a quiet, very warm, uneventful walk with my dog and I liked it very much.

An hour after we got back to the house it was raining and thunder storming heavily..........