My Journey

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

It's so great to get outside and walk in the desert when the moon is nearly full.....





With an impending storm moving in the next day, I wanted to walk all night.....



I forget when the rains finally came but what was planned as nothing more than an overnight stay became nearly a three day stay.....



The cattle came in the pouring rain for a visit.....they are incredibly curious.....it's like " where in the heck did this thing come from ?".....



Once the rains had passed and the clouds began to lift we were back on the road.....



And we had finally left Arizona.....



The clouds had lifted in Arizona but they lingered in New Mexico.....





Eventually the clouds and fog always disappears.....we left the interstate and headed north.....

 

[Riversdad]

No such thing as a bad dog, only bad owners. Glad you and Yukon are alright and hoping the pain eases a little every day.

 

[tgil]

but when they asked how long I'd be in town I thought it best to hit the road.....and we were gone in a flash.....

I'm surprised you didn't leave them with your chair while you and Tanner took a walk?

Sunset pics are always great! Full moons are another favorite of mine.

 

[Ace Brown]

That CJ-3A looks like a true desert rat. Maybe the ladies too. Is that Tanner in the Jeep? He sure likes the attention.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[calicamper]

Geeze Jerry glad you two are ok. People forget that pits were designed by man for capability. Its not the dogs fault they were bred to have killer capability. However most people who have them never consider the liability they have having a pit.

My brother was at a major home supply warehouse with his 3yr old and 5yr old boys picking out a new bath sink. Two pit bulls were on tiny string expando leash things in the store my brother wasn’t aware of this and both his kids turned a corner and walked right into them. He grabbed his boys up as one dog charged him likely reaction from my brother moving so fast. My brother dumped the shopping cart on the dog during his exit of the aisle. My brother went straight to the front desk told them to get manager “Now” by this time there was another commotion in the back of the warehouse near the garden/ outside door. The pits got into a fight with another dog as the owner was trying to sneak out the garden exit. A standard Poodle shredded to pieces the elder man with it managed to avoid getting into the shredder.
At that point three construction guys who had seen the event with my brother ran out front and stopped the guy from leaving.

Police were there in 3 minutes, animal control was there in 10 minutes.
A couple of things. The Poodle died within minutes of the attack and shouldn’t have been in the store. My brother not being a regular had no idea that this store seemed to be a constant place for people to take their dogs. The pit owner was on parole and was arrested for being outside his restricted area apparently some parole conditions have strict location restrictions. The dogs were euthanized.
The large chain home supply store didn’t do a thing till my Brother a lawyer sent HQ a “law office nasty letter with a copy of the police report which included witnesses of my brothers kids having a close call.
He basically told them that his office was going to do spot checks on this store location and document any dogs in store and the lack of signs and enforcement keeping dogs out.

5days after this nasty letter signs were up and a security guard on site was posted to keep dogs off property. This was after a month and a half of nothing being done.

 

[GregSplett]

Greg.....the worst is nearly over.....as far as this thread goes.....

Jerry. I just thank you for taking us along and letting us get to kind of enjoy your dogs too. I do not know if I would be here as much without them, to be honest.

My whole life is based around dogs pretty much. My wife is pushing sixty and has been grooming dogs since high school and had her own business for over twenty years. That business is in our garage for the last ten years. She has a customer base that is unfortunately threatened now by the new disease. I say hi every day to dogs that I have known longer than my current pack. I gave mouth to mouth to a little poodle mix Thursday that had a heart attack in its kennel awaiting a bath. This poodle was the third generation Melinda had groomed for these good folks. The worse for me is finding homes for dogs whose owners have passed away leaving them homeless. The looks in the dog's eyes tears me apart something bad. My worst nightmare is leaving a dog this way. Saying goodbye to our friends in the doggy world never gets easier, trust me. I am so very sorry for your loss.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Riversdad.....it was actually Yukon that passed away.....Tanner is still out there terrorizing the world.....

tgil.....it's called social distancing.....

Ace.....that indeed is Tanner in their Jeep. And there's a huge fear of mine right there as he loves people so much. I fear one day seeing his sad face through someones rear car window as they drive off with him.....

calicamper.....thanks.....the thing about that dog was that he was fine with people.....it was other dogs that he hated. He was being restrained by the police officer while waiting on animal control to arrive when someone walked by with a German Shepherd and that pit bull went nuts. I was actually petting the pit bull after all this happened and he was fine with me. I quit showing it affection when I overheard the owner asking the police officer to tell me not to touch her dog.....what a piece of work she was.....

Greg.....I'm just like you.....thanks.....




Often driving down the highway we see these historical sign markers and from time to time I'll pull over just to see what's up. There's no rhyme or reason why I stop at these things but I thought this one that I happened upon told an interesting short story.....



There was a reason for us to divert to driving north at this point in our travels as our real aim at this point in time was to go east. So far every plan that I've made in the past six months seems to not have come to fruition but now I want to visit my son and the most beautiful girl on earth.....and they are back east.....

But it's not a straight line from here to there much like it was with dealing with Yukons illness.....you just go where the roads take you.....



I happened to see a video on YouTube about this place and it captured my attention.....



Typically I'm not one that would be attracted to the man made features so much but like I just said, this one did.....I don't know why.....





As could be expected Tanner and I were not the only ones here (unfortunately).....







The canyon was so beautiful with the tall trees lined up along the creek bed.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

I believe that this trail is advertised to be 2.5 miles in length but heavy rains had damaged the trail and once beyond the limits of the steel grated trail, the trail was washed out.....





So unfortunately we had driven maybe one hundred miles out of the way to hike approximately one mile, half of which was on steel grates.....





Now I'm not complaining here.....I'm just saying.....





After this hike we backtracked a bit to the Glenwood, New Mexico BLM office to find a recommended place to spend a free night in the forest.....





The woman behind the desk at the BLM office suggested I take a short drive south and spend the night at the San Francisco Hot Springs. Sounded really good to me (although she did mention that the river was high and that the hot springs were more than likely inaccessible). In addition, I asked her about her secret spots nearby that she loved to visit and she was quick to tell me about a canyon rarely explored.....and I immediately thought "this should be good".....

 

[Arjan]

Thanks for some awesome pictures and the dogs & people you meet en route..

Dogs rule our life.

Fine by me..

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Arjan.....of course.....



I think it was maybe a five mile drive south of the Glenwood BLM office where we found the turn off for the San Francisco Hot Springs.....



And then it was just a short drive from there to the trailhead.....also where we would find a small fire ring and a spot to spend the night.....



There was yet another storm in the forecast for the following day.....I had no desire to stay here for long.....the roads were dirt and no doubt would soon turn to mud.....



We spent an uneventful night in the silence of the woods.....it was at approximately 4 a.m. that we were awakened to the barks and howls of the coyotes right outside the camper door. It was and always is, an incredibly welcomed sound.....I laid there in my bed just thinking how lucky I am to live this life on the road.....



We were out fairly early the next day and hiked the approximately 3 mile roundtrip trail down to the rivers edge and to the hot springs which I had assumed that I would not find.....





The trail slowly found its way to the rivers edge and then further along followed the meanders of the river downstream.....





It was maybe a half miles walk downstream when I came across a small family on the opposite side of the river soaking in a hot pool. It had now been weeks since I had bathed and I didn't bring my swim trunks along.....definitely an ugh moment.....



We hiked to the very end of the trail which was halted by a massive cliff along the river. With several days of rains in the forecast, and with my desire to visit the seldom seen canyon, we returned to the camper and headed back to the north.....exploring that canyon was really all that was on my mind.....

 

[longhorn1]

Wow Jerry, sorry that happened. Looks like you both were lucky. Be safe. jd

 

[dieseldude4bt]

Thanks for the photos of the Cat walk and the Hot springs you were in my home town of Glenwood I have many memories of running all over the hills there and catching catfish in the river below the hot springs. Ahh wish I had a time machine.

 

[dieseldude4bt]

The trail on up the cat walk has never been highly maintained past the swinging bridge, it is kind of easy to miss as it takes off from the main trail just before the bridge and climbs up and then drops back in to the creek bottom. From there it follows the creek and crosses many times and that water is like flowing ice in the early spring but a pure pleasure in the heat of summer. Really good trout fishing too.

 

[dieseldude4bt]

I know you usually post after you are already gone from the area but.. If you are still there or going back through some time you should go up Mineral creek see Coonies tomb and hike up the creek past his mine and just enjoy the trail less traveled than the Catwalk. Also take your jeep up to Mogollon see the ghost town and take a walk through the grave yard the head stones are worth checking out.

 

[longhorn1]

Great photos and great sites. Someday we will hit New Mexico. Crazy to think New Mexico has closed all their state parks due to C-19. Hopefully NFS and BLM lands will escape the madness . Chasing Texas Blue Bonnets today. Nice just being in a wide open area, even though it is a State Park for the week. Be safe.