So a few Sundays ago Maggie The Wonder Dog and I went a bit further than our usual walk. There was this line going up the ridge to the west of the house that I was curious about.
An older dog that sometimes tags along had slept through our departure, so we had a bit more destinational latitude, and it was yet another sunny and splendid morning, promising lots of heat later.
What’s wondrous about Maggie? We live in open range country, which means cattle of various descriptions are running around loose on the roads back there, and some of them are largish. Maggie, an English Shepherd, could care less about any avoirdupoidal disparity. She just runs right at whatever it is, and after the bovine shock wears off at this appearance of this speedy approaching missile, the target takes off in a sprightly and undignified manner, often uttering a protest. Maggie does not discriminate, calves get the same treatment. Thus the roads are all clear by the time I get there, like magic. Sometimes it goes a bit overboard, and cows are cleared away that aren’t even near the road, but it’s all in the name of keeping in practice.
Here we are in a cow-free space…
So it turned out that what looked smooth from far away wasn’t so when viewed from a more intimate perspective.
Nonetheless we headed on up to savor the view, up being the operative word.
Our eventual destination as seen from below…
We got around what is left of the upper curve, looked back, and realised we’d gained some altitude, which our legs already knew…
The view on west from near the top…
We walked back east to get to the edge of the rocks…that’s the road that winds over from the house down there…the house is near the base of that small hill not quite at the upper left…
We took a rest…
Gazed at the view…
And then headed back down in the rising heat…
More photos in the Arizona Redux Album