First River Hike of the Season

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On Monday, the dogs and I joined our hiking buddy Bonnie and her Labs, Pete and Jed, for a casual hike down the Gila River. My dogs spend a lot of time on the Gila either hiking or hunting, but it had been a while since we had been out for some serious exercise. They were ready for some off-leash, out of the yard, recreation. There were many lizards to chase and the current in the river was still pretty strong, so water retrieves required a good bit of effort on the part of the dogs.

The dogs also had a blast chasing whiptail lizards. They never catch them, but sure do enjoy the chase. Ranger optimistically tried digging the little critters out.



All in all it was a great afternoon with enough exercise to wear the dogs out for a day or two.

If you are planning a hike in the area that involves any river crossings, at this point the current is still pretty strong. The water level has fallen from spring runoff highs, so navigation is not as difficult as it was in April, but still requires taking care and paying attention. The deepest channels we crossed on our hike were about 4 feet or so and not too wide. The smaller dogs had to really work hard crossing the river when we were going upstream, but all were able to make all crossings without any help.



The dogs were not intimidated by the current at all. All were willing to fetch as many times as sticks and other objects were thrown with no hesitation.