After dropping the RV off, we decided to drive around and find a place we could take a nice walk with the dogs since we had a long day of driving ahead of us. So we headed off to Uinta National Forest. But when we got there they had this huge sign that said: No horses, No dogs, No swimming, No off road vehicles, No campfires, and two others that I forget. Then right under that it said “Land of Many Uses.” Oh ya? Like what?
So we went to the next mountain range over and there was that same darn sign. The dogs were getting impatient by now and so was Mike. So we got off the mountain range and finally found a trailhead. But wouldn’t you know, No Dogs. Arg. The Salt Lake City area sure isn't very friendly toward those of us with dogs.
We were running out of ideas so Mike studied his map and found one other place we could try. Success...finally. The sign said horses and dogs were both fine but that dogs needed to stay on leash and you must clean up after them.
We were hoping to find a place the dogs could roam free but being on leash was better than no walk at all. Or was it? Trying to walk four dogs on flexi-leashes is trying at best. There was a lot of frustration as everyone kept getting all tangled up. This worries Wazzu as she can easily sense our frustration and she gets very mopey. That is, until we saw the coyote less than five minutes into our walk.
How did the dogs know this was a coyote and not just another dog? I don’t know but they knew and they all started going crazy. Slugger is super strong when he is determined and he was very determined he was going to get the coyote. I always thought that coyotes weren’t real fond of people but this guy wasn’t scared of us at all – he was actually very curious. So while he kind of kept his distance he wasn’t leaving. I think he was hoping maybe he could get Boogie as a tasty little snack. But believe me I was keeping a very close eye on Boogie and I was looking at my surroundings very closely to make sure there weren't any other coyotes trying to sneak up on us either.
Poor Mike is trying to keep the dogs focused on walking and not being tangled, all the while Slugger is digging in and pulling Mike toward the coyote. The other dogs weren’t being very helpful either I must say. Fortunately I had Boogie and I was able to keep him right next to me even though he was extremely interested in the coyote too.
Eventually we got past that distraction. But the walk didn’t get any better. There were a lot of smells and the dogs kept going back and forth and going backward then wrapping around us. You can imagine the tangled mess the leashes kept getting into. I don't think any of us were having any fun.
The area was just a little valley with houses in the distance on both sides on the way up to the mountains.
In one of the few moments I was able to glance up at the scenery I found it to be quite pretty.
As if we weren't having enough trouble there was horse poo all over the trail. I know many of you that read my blog are into horses. But I just gotta voice my opinion here (which I’m sure won’t be popular). I really think horse people should have to clean up after their horses. Poor Boogie thinks he has a new name “Leave It!” I spent the entire walk trying to get him to leave the 7,000 pounds of horse poo that was all along the trail. And while trying to watch Boogie to catch him before he would get some in his mouth, I’d step in these huge piles. Yuck! Boogie managed numerous times to grab and dash. Then I’d have to go over and get all that disgusting stuff out of his mouth. Nasty to the max!!
We always clean up after our dogs, why can’t horse people do the same – they could at least stop and push the stuff off to the side of the trail. Dog’s piles are very small and horses aren’t tempted to eat them. Horse piles are large (and frequent!) and dogs love to eat them. So which is more bothersome – horse poo for sure! (And since our dogs eat raw food, their poo disintegrates very quickly so don’t even try to go that route with me.)
I’ll tell you we cleaned up way more than our fair share of horse poo today so these horse people can just deal with the one teeny tiny little pile of dog poo that we left – well off the trail where no one except the coyote will be walking anyway.
On the trail we went on two days ago we also spent much of our time trying to keep the dogs from eating the horse poo – and this was on a trail that said No Horses. By the way, Wazzu wants to make sure I add that she never even looks at the horse poo - it's just all the other dogs that are being bad. Good girl, Wazzu.
Okay, now that I’ve completed my rant, I’ll go back to cleaning up after our dogs and other dogs whose owners can’t seem to be bothered with picking up after their dogs in otherwise nice parks and trails.
While there were a couple nice views (that I rarely had a chance to look at)...
...I wouldn’t say this was an enjoyable walk by any means. It was also very difficult to take pictures as Boogie is always yanking on the leash just as I try to snap a picture. So the few times that I do try to take a picture it usually ends up blurry. I did manage to get a couple pictures of a black billed magpie. There were many of them flying around but I only had a second to look up at them.
When we got back to the RV the lube and oil was done but they were just starting to look at our long time troubling tire - except they were looking at the wrong tire! We got them straightened out but just like every other time we've had it checked for the past year and a half they couldn't figure out what is wrong. Poor Mike. Every day that we are going to drive he has to spend 15 - 30 minutes trying to get the tire pumped up.
We finally got on the road. It was a pretty day but it seemed like we'd been up forever and Mike was having trouble staying awake. So we had to make a few stops along the way but did end up making it to St. George, UT just fine.
We were too tuckered to go out but here is the view from our window.
I think we're all happy this day is over. While we're glad for every day, we're hoping tomorrow will be a better day.
Debbie
10/2/07
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