Sunday, December 31, 2017

Walking The Rim

I have been endlessly power snapping pictures ever since we arrived back in Cody, and will have to spend some time catching up on blogging.
These pictures were all taken sometime back in early November.
These first ones were taken while I was restlessly wandering around a waiting room as we had four new tires put on the Tahoe..................
With the vehicle now equipped with four new ten ply tires Kory and I left LC back at the cottage and headed out onto BLM land for a quiet walk together.
Parking the Tahoe on a familiar trail out in the Oregon Basin (about four miles outside of town), I sprung my hysterically barking girl from the bondage of the vehicle and watched as she excitedly ran.
For a moment I carefully regarded her, enjoying the sight of her relishing in her new-found freedom.
I headed up the trail (enjoying my OWN new-found freedom), walking quickly while also keeping one eye on my pup.
I don't worry about Kory as much now as I used to.
She can still disappear from view in seconds.
She can still be gone for too long sometimes, before unexpectedly reappearing over a rise (and from the complete opposite direction from where I lost site of her).
But Kory is bonded fully with her people, glances over frequently to make sure she knows exactly where we are, and has built confidence that we will never leave her behind.
A few times I have had to go back to the vehicle and beep the horn to get her to come back.  She always comes running at full speed, understanding that it is time to go. 
But more often than not my dog simply disappears and reappears, then disappears and reappears again.  Coming and going.  Touching base with me constantly and consistently as we walk.
A make-shift target found along the trail.................
And a whole series of rabbit hides................
It was a grey, overcast and damp day, and even though we had had a lot of snowfall the week before, it had quickly melted.
As I reached a box canyon I glanced behind me to keep tabs on my dog, called to her so that she would know I was veering off the trail, and headed for the hills....................
Still climbing..............
Once I reached the top of the hill I glanced around me again and was gratified to see that Kory had almost caught up with me.
I watched her (as I often did), mesmerized by her natural athleticism.
It was all so effortless for her.
The running.  The climbing.  All of it...............
We were on the outskirts of the Oregon Basin.
A huge expanse of sage brush filled, flat oil-producing land, that is surrounded by a sandstone rim of rock.
Kory and I were now walking one small section of that rim.
LC and I would be exploring a different section of the rock rim the next day.
A section we had found during our last stay in Cody four years earlier and which was VERY beautiful and interesting.
This place wasn't that place, but it didn't matter.
It was all new territory for both of us, and both woman and dog were enjoying the freedom of wide open adventure, and the walking rhythm we had established with each other over the four years we had now been together.
It was all good.................
I smiled when I saw her.
You just never knew where she was going to be, from one moment to the next..............
She was somewhere between 3 and 5 when we got her.
She is now somewhere between 7 and 9 years old.
Physically Kory is still as fast and agile as ever, but her face is beginning to show her age..................
While Kory darted up and down the hill, I picked my way up and over rocks and fallen tree limbs, working my way across the top of the ridge.
The loose plan was to walk the length of the ridge line, then drop down onto flat land again and pick up the original trail we had been on.
A small adventure.
A quiet adventure on a silent and dreary day.................
Off in the distance I could see the top half of Carter Mountain down in the South Fork.
As I stood looking at it I absently wondered how far away it was as the crow flies.
Distances are so vast and so deceiving in the west that I honestly had no idea.
Driving on the highway it was 35 miles or so.
Regardless, I enjoyed seeing the mountain range.
A familiar part of the Cody land scape.
It still feels so strange to be in Cody again.
When we lived in Idaho I assumed that Wyoming was behind us for good, and so I never gave any of these places any thought at all.
Now, whenever we visit a place and see a site that was so familiar to us four years ago I remember how much I liked it.  
The memories of Places-Past all come flooding back...............
The next day we would visit Circle Rock.............

The average dog is a nicer person than the average person............Andy Rooney

No comments:

Post a Comment