The End of our Desert Escape

Our last stop on our desert trip was at a campsite that we've been visiting for about a dozen years. It's next to huge rock outcroppings that remind me of Mother Nature's cathedrals.

It's clear that people have appreciated the beauty of this area for thousands of years based on the rock art at the base of the huge rock walls.

Some slabs have fallen off the rock faces but fortunately the art landed facing up!

A distinctive thing about this place is that it's 70% slickrock and the rest is sand. For slickrock, boots are critical for dogs.

We have always used Ruffwear Grip Trex boots for our dogs in the desert. However, Shyla has always hated them. I finally figured out why after our last desert trip. They didn't fit her elongate paw shape correctly, and she had a spot rubbed almost raw on top of one of her toes. So, I decided to try her winter boots on this desert trip - Ruffwear Summit Trex. They have a nice vibram sole, and she was SO much happier than in her old boots.

The greatest part of finding boots that she liked was that we could mountain bike together on the slickrock, something that is impossible without comfortable dog boots.

Both of us were happy about that. On past visits to this site, her running was very limited by having to avoid slickrock.

When we visit this area, our campsite is always marked by a "dog boot drying boulder". Shyla's are the orange boots and R's are the red boots. If you ever happen to see a sight like this, you know it's us!

In the afternoons, one of our favorite activities was to watch a family of nesting Red-Tailed Hawks. We have a spotting scope that lets us see almost every detail of their life in their rock cavity nest.

We've watched them every spring for 4 years so far. By May, the funniest part is watching the nestlings maneuver into position to go to the bathroom. They carefully back up to the edge and launch their poop completely out of the nest to the ground below. Their maneuvering makes us laugh every time. You can see from the photo below that they weren't so skilled when they were younger.

Unfortunately, I don't own a big enough lens to get good photos of the nestlings "in action". There were three this year, and we both wished we could stay long enough to see them fledge. I hope that they had successful first flights! From that height (200-300 ft high), the first flight must be very scary.

I hope that we keep visiting this campsite for many years to come. The first dogs who visited there with us are now departed (K and S). But our current pack seems to love it too.

The desert is now too hot for us. Our next visit will be in the fall. Between now and then, we'll be exploring the mountains!