Snakes are out, is your dog safe?

I'm starting to see more and more snakes out and about, now that the weather has warmed up.  Conversations with other dog folks have turned to snakes and dogs on the trail.  Recently, a couple of people have asked me about the rattlesnake vaccine.  I have to confess that I really don't know that much about it, but generally I try not to give extra shots to my dogs.  My dogs have all had snake aversion training and, for me anyway, that's enough.  However, my hiking buddy has also taken all of her dogs through snake aversion training and she also makes use of the vaccine.

There are some good arguments for getting the vaccine and they can be found at this FAQ.  This article by the  UC-Davis School of Veterinary medicine presents some things to think about when considering whether or not to give your dog the vaccine.

Shameless begging for votes

This has nothing to do with hiking, beyond the fact that the video was taken right after the completion of a five mile hike to the top of Grizzly peak in southern Oregon.  The dogs in the video are all older.  The youngest is 6 and the oldest is 12.

This particular video is a finalist in Purina's ProPlan Great Dog video contest.  By some miracle, we have made it to the finals and your votes can help to get us over the top.  Please follow the link and vote for "Teammate".

2-16-14 update-- I removed the links to the video as they no longer worked.  My dogs did make a cameo appearance in the commercial "How I'm Great" in which my guys playing tetherball appear about 15 seconds in on the 1 minute version.  We didn't win the contest, but we were a top 10 finalist and won a year's supply of Purina Pro Plan for one dog, which was nice. Purina's link takes you to their current advertising campaign and then you have to search around in their site to find the commercial and the videos and profiles of the dogs used.  If you want to see the original video that we entered click here to see it on my YouTube channel.

Copeland Mine Road Hike

Our most recent hike is one of my favorite short hikes in the Gila National Forest.  When I need to get the dogs out and I'm not really feeling like a strenuous excursion, I just load everybody up and we quickly head down to Copeland Mine Road.

It's an unmaintained 4x4 road in the Burro mountains, not too far from the Continental Divide Trail.  Usually, no one else is there and the dogs can run and chase lizards to their heart's content.  I generally do a short loop of the road that ends up being maybe a mile and a half, but if I'm feeling energetic there are all sorts of possiblities with this road and it can even be a nice long meandering hike as the road connects with other trails in the forest, and exploring side canyons is always an option.

There's no water available on this trail, but once the monsoons start there are plenty of puddles for the dogs to cool off in.

The trail is generally shady and comfortable, for both man and beast, making it a favorite summer jaunt.  In the winter, however, I tend to avoid this trail because the ease of accessibility makes it attractive to trappers, and after one of the dogs encountered a trap, I just decided to avoid the area during trapping season.

Smoke has lightened, somewhat

If you've been reluctant to head to the Gila lately, it might be time to reconsider.  The Gila National Forest is a pretty big place, and while the Whitewater-Baldy complex fire is huge, it is now 87% contained and the smoke in the area has abated quite a bit.  The Gila Cliff Dwellings are once again open for visitors and there are lots of trails in the southern and eastern sections of the Gila that are open and waiting for visitors.  Check here, for current news related to trails, the fire and conditions in the forest.

The dogs and I went out for a nice, short, evening hike with our Lab buddies last week, and everyone had a great time.  Keep in mind however, that temps have been pretty high here and plenty of water needs to be packed along for dogs if you are not hiking along running streambeds.

Another thing to consider, related to dogs, is their feet.  The trails can get pretty hot in the daytime sun, so if you are bringing a dog along, it might be wise to stick to the shadier trails. Dogs can burn their pads, if you aren't careful.  Really, you'll be more comfortable on the shady trails too, so it's a win/win.

EMT Gel

Our last hike was a little rough on my Sue's paws, and it brought to mind a product that no doggy first aid kit should be without, EMT gel.  They also make a spray. This stuff is great for wound care.  It's both soothing and helps to prevent infections. Unfortunately, mine was in the car at home and not in my pack.

San Francisco Hot Springs and River Trail

Memorial Day saw us taking a very memorable hike along the San Francisco Hot Springs/River trail.  The hike to the springs is a very rocky, rugged, ankle twister of a trek dropping 2.1 miles  down into the river canyon, but once at the stream bed life becomes easy an beautiful.

Surprisingly, for a holiday weekend there was only one other car at the trailhead, so we pretty much had the trail to ourselves.  We let the other visitors enjoy the hot springs while we hiked downstream into one of the most beautiful riparian river canyons it has been my pleasure to hike. The dogs enjoyed a day filled with lizard chasing and swimming, but we were all a little sore footed by the end of the day.

Google Map of location

Fire Season is here

Spring is here and with the warmer temps and strong winds, it is once again fire season in the Gila.  Currently there are a couple of rather large lightning caused fires burning in the wilderness.  Today is another "red flag" day, so the fires may grow even bigger.  These fires have caused several trails to be closed while fire crews try to get a handle on things.  For current conditions and further info check the links at the top of the green box on the right hand side of this blog page.

Getting Back on the trail

After a four month duck hunting sabbatical, we are once again hitting the trails.  Usually, duck hunting doesn't interfere with hiking here, because it's usually not good enough to completely monopolize all the time off, but this year was different, in a good way.  Ranger and I are now ready to get out of the river and back on the trail.  Sue is always ready for a hike and Ceilidh helped us to pick up all the decoys, so we're now ready to shift gears and get out in the woods again on the weekends.

We haven't been completely away from the trail, there were a couple of short jaunts with our Lab buddies, but then it was back on the water for more hunting and blogging just didn't seem to happen.

One fall evening, the Labs and Tollers loaded up and headed out to Saddle Rock riparian area for one last after-work hike before the end of daylight savings time.  The canyon was ablaze with gold on the cottonwoods, and the weather was just this side of perfection for hiking. Part of the trip was spent testing out the new GoPro video camera.

The GoPro also got tested at the duck blind, but we're still on the learning curve with this new toy, so experiments abound.

Currently, we've limited our jaunts to hikes in the Tyrone area, either behind my house or across the highway behind where our Lab buddies live, but we did take one road trip down behind Separ mountain, near the Arizona/New Mexico border.  It was really a quail scouting trip, but our hiking buddies don't have to know that.  It was a great hike with great weather. The icing on the cake was when we discovered some pictographs in a small cave. No quail though, there are just not any to be found this year.  Here are some pictures from that journey:

Fall Colors

Ranger surveys his domain

The night-time temperatures are getting cooler now and fall is definitely in the air. It's time to start thinking about good hikes with opportunities for viewing the fall colors in the Gila National Forest. The leaves are just starting to turn here, so prime color time is probably a couple of weeks away, but it never hurts to plan ahead. One of my favorite fall color trails is the Hillsboro Peak trail which has it's trail head at the Emory Pass overlook. The Sawyer Peak trail which also has its trailhead at Emory Pass is also good, but I think the views are better on the Hillsboro Peak Trail.

Another good place to see fall colors will be along the Crest trail from the Sandy Point trail head. Check to make sure that the Bursum road is still open before heading out on this one. The road is generally closed between October and April, depending upon the weather. Currently, the road is open. This year the forest service has set up a fall colors hotline and web site which will be updated every Friday until the colors are gone. More information is available at this link

Predator safety

It seems as though every day lately, somewhere in New Mexico, someone has an encounter with a bear, not only in the forests, but also in our cities and small towns. Here in the high country of southwest corner of the state we share our forest with numerous large predators, bears among them.

A couple of weeks ago on our weekend hike in the Burro mountains, we encountered some bear scat on the trail. Thank goodness we didn't encounter the bear itself, but the bear sign was a reminder that when hiking around here, it's not like taking a walk in a city park. Safety precautions need to be considered when the possibility exists that the dogs may encounter dangerous wildlife.

There are two commands that every dog needs no matter where they walk: "Leave-it" and "Come". Owners need to be able to call their dogs off of anything they encounter that might not be good for them or that might just be unpleasant.

I work informally on recalls, or the "come" command every time we hit the trail. We make it a game and fun, but my motivations are serious. I need my dogs to drop what they're doing an come to me without hesitation. If they can't do this one thing, then I can't have them off leash in the forest. Another thing I try to do is really be aware of everything in my surroundings.  If I see the wildlife before the dogs do, it's easier for me to ensure that we avoid an encounter. 

But, what should animal owners do if an encounter with wildlife actually does happen?  Here's a great post from the Life with Dogs blog that addresses what to do with a few of the more common predators a hiking dog could encounter in the wild.

Quiet 4th, Monsoons on the way

This may have been the quietest 4th of July with respect to fireworks that I have ever witnessed in my 22 years in New Mexico.  No one was shooting off fireworks anywhere where I could see them or my dogs could hear them.  This is a testament to the dryness here in Gila country right now.  Even the town of Silver City elected not to put on its usual fireworks display. 

Here in Grant county we have been at stage II fire restrictions since the Quail Ridge fire at the beginning of March and that is still the case today; but, there is some good news.  The humidity levels have finally risen above the single digits and the welcome sight of afternoon thunderhead buildup is finally visible.  There still hasn't really been much in the way of rainfall, but we are getting spotty amounts here and there in the afternoons now, and the promise of the monsoon season doesn't seem so empty anymore.

Hiking with the dogs, I have encountered extremely dry conditions in the forest.  Packing along water is a must unless you are hiking along the Gila river itself, as that seems to be the only water around.  On trails not near water, the dogs need to be monitored for signs of heat stress, kept well watered, and if possible, hiking along shady trails after about 9:00 in the morning, as my dogs don't have the sense to stop themselves from overexertion in hot, sunny conditions. Another consideration for dogs on sunny trails is that the ground can get hot enough to cause them discomfort if there is no vegitation to walk on, which there mostly isn't right now.  I've been limiting our hikes to before 9 in the morning or after 5 in the afternoon and the dogs are still ready for a cooling dip in their pool by the time we get home.

The ground is so dry that it is the consistency of wheat flour right now.  The pin oaks seem to be mostly in hibernation mode, with only the larger trees having any leaves at all.  The daytime temperatures are currently in the  high 80s to low 90s and nighttime temps are dropping to the low 60s.  Chances of any rain are spotty for the next week or so, but forecasters are placing them at 30% each day this week rising to 60% by July 13th.

2011 NM Fires Timeline

Found this cool timeline of this year's fire season in  New Mexico created by krqewebdesk.  She's got a few other cool timelines relevant to New Mexico at her site as well.

Miller Fire

For the last few weeks or so the Miller Fire has been a major issue in the Gila.  As of now it has burned over 87,000 acres in the Gila Wilderness.  Smoke from this and other area fires hangs over Silver City, and the never ending winds are starting to be supplemented by hotter daytime temperatures.

According to a forest service news release, April 27, the fire is now 68% contained. The good news is that forest officials have reopened previously closed areas for the holiday weekend.  Open areas include:

• Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument Visitor Center and Cliff Dwellings.
• Grapevine Campground
• Forks Campground
• Upper and Lower Scorpion Campgrounds
• TJ Corral
• Woody’s Corral

Trails at TJ and Woody's Corrals remain closed due to the fire.
The Gila National Forest and Gila Wilderness are still under stage II fire restrictions. 
PDF Map of closed Trails due to the Miller Fire
PDF Map of the Miller Fire

It's a dry, dry, windy, windy world

I desperately need to get my guys out for a good hike.  We've done a couple of short hikes close to the house, but the weather has been so windy on the weekends lately that I just haven't wanted to be out in it for very long.  It's looking like this weekend my be a little calmer, but it's still super dry here in the Gila.  In fact, there have been several fires in the Silver City area recently, one big one a couple of weeks ago, and two separate fires just yesterday.

This brings up a topic that probably needs to be covered, fire safety and spring hiking in the Gila.

Fire Safety
Since one of yesterday's fires was near a popular hiking and picnic area and has been determined to be human caused, here are a few rules from New Mexico Fire Info:
Fire Restrictions on State and Private Lands

Right now,  recreational forest users need to be extra vigilant about fire. With the wind as bad as it's been any heat source is a potential disastrous fire.  This includes motorized vehicles.  The Quail Ridge fire was caused by a catalytic converter catching dry grass on fire.  Another of our NM fires was caused by someone using a grinder to cut parts off of a salvage vehicle.  Common sense should prevent intelligent folks from flicking cigarette butts out of car windows or burning weeds under these conditions, but I am constantly amazed by the lack of common sense people seem to exhibit.

Water
On the topic of common sense, if you are planning to go hiking anywhere other than a trail along the Gila or Mimbres rivers, it's a really good idea to pack water for both you and your dog.  It is super dry here right now and chances are if you are away from the rivers you are going to need lots of water.  If you are carrying your own gear and water, things can get pretty heavy having your dog's too.  Luckily, there are lots of new hydration packs for dogs available now, ranging in price from under $20 to almost $130.  On longer hikes requiring packed in water, you are going to want your canine buddy to carry its share of the load. If you calculate your hiking and water consumption accurately you will take your last sip just before you get back to your vehicle.

We interrupt our hiking for this brief product review

Three Tollers, one living room, & one doggy door vs one iRoomba 530.

It’s Friday, and I don’t have a half-inch of debris on the living room floor.  That’s a good thing.  Usually, by this time of the week things are getting pretty deep in my living room, thanks to three Tollers and a doggy door.  Lots of outdoor things get tracked in along with the inevitable dog hair which seems to be never ending though heavier at times during the semi-annual sheds.  I really don’t have the time or energy to vacuum every day, which is really what my living room needs. I give things a good going over on the weekends, but once a week just isn’t enough.

The iRoomba 530 is my new electronic maid.  I turn it loose every morning while I am making breakfast for myself and the dogs or in the evening while I’m making my dinner.  It caroms around the room, sweeping up the worst of the day’s accumulation, unsupervised, and for the most part unimpeded.  I like my little Roomba, especially since I got it for free.

So, what are the relevant details for the pet owner?  Well, for a vacuum, it’s more of a sweeper. In fact, that’s the category I would put it into.  If you are looking for the power of a full-size vacuum you are not going to get it here, but if you are able to live with something as powerful as a carpet sweeper, then you might like the Roomba.  iRoomba does make a model for people with pets, but I have not tried that one, so I can’t comment on its efficiency. 

Shortcomings of the iRoomba: One reason mine was free was because the running time of the machine was only 10 minutes or so, and it was more trouble than it was worth for the previous owner.   I was able to fix this by resetting the battery.  The rechargeable battery develops battery memory and like other appliances with rechargeable batteries, it needs to be completely drained once in a while, and if possible reset to get longer runtimes off of each charge.  My reset battery is now lasting about forty-five minutes to an hour.   I forsee more battery resets in the future.  I could also purchase a new battery for about $70 or so.

Another problem, as a pet owner that I have is that after about 5-10 minutes or so of working my Roomba asks me to “Please remove and clean Roomba’s brushes”.  This is due to dog hair gumming up the works.  I have to do this about 3 or 4 times in an hour of cleaning, and that cleaning is happening on a floor that is now getting Roombaed daily and vacuumed with the big vacuum once a week.  From what I’ve read this is not as big of a problem on the pet models, but the brushes still require cleaning and I’d just do it as a part of daily maintenance. This can be done whenever you empty the dust bin on the Roomba.  I find that the brushes need cleaning more often than the dust bin needs emptying, but my life is just that kind of messy.   The Roomba also takes longer to clean a room than a person pushing a normal vacuum would, but the whole point is that the person doesn't have to push the Roomba around the room.  It's slowly working while the person is doing something else. 

For what it is, I like my little Roomba, but I'm not giving up the Kirby.

Ft Bayard, Dragonfly Trail

View Dragonfly Trail, Ft. Bayard, New Mexico in a larger map

One of the great things about the Silver City area is that there are so many really great trails. One gold mine of trail networks is Fort Bayard. Just off of Arenas Valley road there is a parking area and trailhead that is barely off of the blacktop. This is where the pack of Labs and Tollers met for a great short hike on Dragonfly trail to Twin Sisters Creek. This is a relatively high traffic trail area, so be mindful of horse and bike riders as well as other hikers you may run into.  Petroglyphs along this loop make the hike attractive to many people, but access to water is what we like even more.

There are many trails within this area.  The Gila National Forest also has a nice trail information page, along with a downloadable PDF map of the area

We did meet some horseback riders at the trailhead, but they were loading up as we were getting ready to head out. Other than that no one else shared the trail with us.

Ceilidh had the best time on this hike.  At ten, she is still quite active, but doesn't run around as much as the young dogs.  This trail was easy enough that she was pulling at the leash as much as the younger dogs, and running around like a puppy at times.

This is a great place for late fall, winter, and spring hikes, but can be a little warm in the summer.  The hike starts out in dry open juniper country and then works its way down to the creekbed where cottonwoods and water are a welcome relief for thirsty dogs.  Another great thing about this area is that the trail itself doesn't seem to have that many stickers along it, though there are cockle burrs in areas where there is water.

Once the trail hits the creek bed if you turn left  there is a great swimming hole not too far up the bed where even after nine weeks of no moisture of any kind there was enough depth for the Labs to do more than just wade.  If you turn right, the trail will loop around past the petroglyph site, and eventually make it back to the trailhead.

Mater showed off his water entry skills by getting big air and jumping in over and over. Pete had a blast as well, moving rocks off the bottom, swimming and generally enjoying being wet, despite the harassment from Jed.

The Tollers enjoyed the water as well. Everyone took advantage of the chance to go for a swim. Even Sue, who normally doesn't like cold water, went for a swim around the hole.  All of the Tollers screamed for sticks to be thrown into the water for fetching.

Along the way we ran across lots of elk tracks but no elk.  The dogs did manage to flush a couple of cottontails, which made for a fun chase, though the retrievers weren't anywhere near fast enough to actually capture one.

Merry Christmas!

Coronado National Forest- Bootheel of New Mexico

Bronco Sue, Ranger and I, along with a couple of friends and their dogs went on an excursion deep into the bootheel of New Mexico looking for quail.  Sadly, the birds were in short supply, but the scenery was great and it was a nice day out with the dogs anyway.  This part of the country is quite close to the border with Mexico and is frequented by smugglers.  However, the only other folks we saw were in Border Patrol vehicles.  A BP helicopter even swooped down behind the truck as we were driving to check out our license plate.

I'm proud to say that out of the four hunting dogs on the trip it was the Tollers who found the only covey, a small one of about twenty Gambles, on our trip.  We did quite a bit of scrambling up and down canyons and through washes, but the birds were holding tight in the wind and we didn't get any.

The German Shorthair, did manage to point and then provoke a skunk, much to our dismay, but that's why we have a topper on the pickup.

The weather is great, wish I could be there

Fall is my favorite time for hiking in the Gila.  The temps are mostly tolerable and there's usually water available for the dogs.  Unfortunately, this fall life has gotten in the way of my favorite hobby.  I've only been able to get in one short dog hike so far this month. 

It was a great walk down an arroyo across the highway from my housing area.  All things yellow seem to be blooming at the moment, which doesn't really help the allergies of both myself and a couple of the dogs.  Along with the flowers a variety of butterflies in all shapes and sizes could be found around just about every turn.

The dogs managed to flush three nice-sized coveys of quail on the hike.  Hopefully, those guys are a good sign of things to come in November.

Caution Snakes are out and Active

August/September hiking in the Gila is a time where dogs and people need to be wary of snakes.  My dogs have all had snake aversion training, so they avoid them when possible, but this year seems to be a really good year for rattlers and that makes me cautious about hiking in unknown areas.

 An acquaintance of mine in law enforcement says he is encountering many snakes on traffic stops along the highway.  I've also heard reports from fellow hikers and from friends on ranches that they are seeing snakes out and about.  With the abundant rains this year it seems that the snakes have had a good food supply and are flourishing.  This time of year is a time for more snake activity anyway and with more snakes being more active caution and care should be taken to limit your dog's exposure to danger.