monday

happy thanksgiving week! mt parents are here, so posting may be sporadic, but my mom & i will enjoy a daily hike in the reserve.

yesterday my friend the hawk showed up.
and it was a beautiful day. a bit hectic at work again, nice to take a break & clear my brain!
happy trails, have a great week!

interpretive trail

what a beautiful day! we had a great hike on the interpretive trail today. this trail is pedestrian only. it's pretty narrow and goes through some beautiful areas. margie & i both stay away in the summer- it's kind of snaky & has lots of poison ivy by the water, but it is wonderful this time of year. we ran into 4 other folks- all with dogs- on our 5.6 mile hike.

there are signs along the trail. some have interesting (to me) info about the geology, flora & fauna and history of the area. some (less interesting to me) contain poetry. one of the signs has a picture of petroglyphs with a poem about them. i wonder if there are petroglyphs in this area? we couldn't see any, but i don't know why else you'd have a sign like that.

the poop sitch could have been better. margie & i cleaned up the parking area after our hike. there is not a bag dispenser at the trailhead, but there is a trash can. no excuses.

happy trails!

blue skies... and trail conditions

another lovely day. one thing about doing the lunch hour walk is that it's been warm & beautiful.

i see different groups of people too- today it was a leadership group/class. otherwise very quiet.

today, the trail conditions report went live. the new improved format is a joint effort between SWIMBA, Boise Trail DOG and Ridge to Rivers and can be accessed from any of our sites. volunteers report on the trails they hiked/rode/ran, etc. click here to check it out.

if you're interested in helping, let me know- we could use a bit more coverage. and please check the report if you have any question about how things are out there. it's up to all of us to preserve the resource.

happy trails!

more (in)sanity

more craziness yesterday & today. very grateful for the break of being able to walk the dogs in the peace & quiet and beauty of the foothills for some perspective & calm.

clouds looking like hieroglyphics with a secret message yesterday....

beautiful blue sky how bad can it really be day this afternoon....
we were in the reserve around 2:30 this afternoon- i really needed to calm down & clear my head, and it worked like magic. saw a coyote in the marsh on the way out. the dogs didn't even notice him looking at us. nice reminder to slow down and look around.

happy trails!

it's a monday!

it was a monday, through & through! started off with a bang at work, and i knew i needed to get out & walk & chill.... and it was beautiful. trails are dry- red fox is so sandy that it's usually a safe bet....
still icy & snowy on the north side

and dry on top of chickadee.

i suspect that lots of trails got chopped up yesterday- heard reports of heavy use on wet military reserve trails, and as we were coming out of corrals & things were getting soft lots of people were heading in. people like to wait to get out when it warms up, but that's worst on the trails in the winter. better to bundle up & get out when things are still frozen.

boise trail dog, swimba & r2r are working on a trail conditions reporting system for this winter that will provide good coverage & current info for most trails. we are recruiting regular trail users to spend a few minutes when they get home to update a spreadsheet that will be easy for folks to go to & see how things look, which trails might be appropriate, which to stay away from, etc. more to come on that.

it was beautiful- and lots of folks out taking advantage. 8 with dogs, 5 without- this around 10.

on top of chickadee, 2 women in front of us raised their arms and shouted. halle started barking, they turned around & said we're getting the frustration out- we all laughed. sanity in the form of being outside, moving, being in the presence of something bigger....

most owners great with their dogs. we passed several leashed on trail no problem. one woman with a white & black puppy, letting it run ahead of her. i grabbed the dogs, a runner said "it's not my dog"- puppy ahead of the runner, who was ahead of the owner, who made zero effort to get her dog.

so i let go of halle, walked echo by. he made a good show of barking. said owner cluelessly looked on, laughing nervously as halle jumped to play with her pup. i'm sure she thought i wasn't very nice, but i didn't have the patience today to explain that i didn't want to trip the runner, and i didn't want my dogs to say hi to her dog. i just moved them on.

it was a gorgeous morning, and i returned to my desk fortified. :)

have a great week- stay off muddy trails!

friday the 13th

another beautiful morning...... been seeing a lot of these guys around lately. trying to figure out what they are- clearly some sort of hawk, but not a red tail- too small. mystery solved- it's a kestrel or sparrow hawk.

smidge of snow on the hills

and a little bit on the owyhees......

this falls under the category of wtf? been seeing more bags left out in the middle of trails lately- and have heard the same from other folks. i have gotten into the habit of leaving bags going in to see if they're still there when i come out. this one was. right in the middle of the trail. do people think that someone cleans up after them? of course, we do, and it would be worse if we didn't, but this is 50 feet or less from a trash can, i mean come on!
anyway..... thanks to those of you who help us keep it clean. happy trails!

catch up

been a little crazy at the job that pays the bills, so even though i've been out, i missed blogging.

found out what this is all about on wednesday- they're rerouting one of the storm drains to go out on 13th an alleviate some of the flooding that happens when it gets really soggy.

i thought that getting out at around 10- 10:30 would mean fewer people- WRONG! both yesterday and today, at least8 other groups with dogs and 4-5 without.

here's the camel's back parking lot on wednesday around 11.

beautiful & sunny today after it quit raining. red fox draining well, as usual.

we stopped at the top of the hill before heading to the off leash area b/c i saw 2 women coming with a little black dog on a leash. they stopped and called for some other dogs. and called. sounded like the dogs were out of sight and behind them. they got leashed up- a jack russell & i think a black lab- and came up the hill.

when they were a little way past me i heard one of the women say something annoyed about seeing poop on (or along the trail). i was wondering if she thought that her dog, which was clearly behind her and out of sight at least part of their walk, would never do such a thing? maybe she thinks said dog is just going off trail, so it's ok (it isn't).

almost the weekend! happy trails!