Arizona Adventure: The White Tank Mountains, Part 2

Part 1

Hazardous was right. The trail instantly got more rocky and had steep drop offs on one side.

Conker and I stopped several times to look at the desert on the other side of the drop.

Conker seemed like he was having a blast navigating the rocks.

Sometimes we would go a little too fast and try to jump up a rock and hit the end of the leash and snap back down. I had to either try to catch him to leap forwards to prevent this.

Sometimes I think Conker is part Mountain Goat. He loves to climb up things, especially rocks. We found a large pile of rocks and he just had to climb it to sniff around.

I did say it was large, didn't I?

Conker really liked this part of the trail. He was hopping around like mad.

We continued for another 2 miles or so past the warning signs until we came to a rock wall. We climbed up it but the trail just ended on the other side. I was quite confused, since the map said the trail continued on past and up across a pass. We looked for the other end of the trail for a while but after about 20 minutes of finding nothing, we turned back.

Despite the dissapointment in the middle of the hike, it was a lot of fun. Conker really enjoyed all the rocks, it's too bad I haven't found anything like that within a reasonable driving distance of GP.

I do know of a couple places that might be similar. There is a trail along the Rouge River that could have some neat hiking sections, I plan on visiting that sometime soon. And then there's the Badlands in Central Oregon that I am planning a week-long trip for this spring/summer. I am really looking forwards to that one.


Anywho, that was our one hike in Arizona. I really miss hiking in the desert.

But I don't miss these.

Arizona Adventure: The White Tank Mountains, Part 1

I totally forgot about this until I started to try to find a place to hike with non-flat trails.

While in Arizona I took Conker to the white tank Mountains located on the far western side of Phoenix. It was a short drive from my grandparent's place and unfortunately, we only went once.  I would have liked to have gotten in more desert hiking but it just didn't happen.

 The trail we took (Ford Canyon and connectors) started out as an easy walk. It was flat, the trail was wide and there were relatively few people around. Conker had to stay leashed (park rules) or he's have been let off to roam the trail at his own pace.

Never complete without a Shiba butt photo or two

Conker didn't seem to notice that the plants on the sides of the trail were sharp. He stuck his nose into many, got stabbed, then stuck it right back in to take a second shot at it. He even tried to bite one. He is not very cactus savvy.

Speaking of cactus...

It has been some years since I'd seen a saguaro.  Like the other cacti, Conker got stabbed by this one too. I also happened to step on one of it's spines that had fallen to the ground (remember, I wear those thin-soled Vibram toe shoes).

So we continued down the nice trail. We didn't see too many animals but every now and then one of those desert jackrabbits would show up and Conker would go bonkers. He wanted to chase them really bad, so I guess it's a good thing he was on a leash.

Conker being adventurous

A small ravine popped up out of nowhere. Conker, being his usual fearless self walked right up to the edge and leaned over.

After the ravine the trail got more interesting. It stopped being flat and well groomed and turned into a jagged, rough and rocky trail. This is what I'd been looking for, something that made you pay attention to where you're going.

Grass!

We came around a large bend in the trail and found something somewhat unexpected. A large flat expanse of grass! It was pretty cool seeing the short grass in the desert, I had never really seen that before despite living there for 19 years.

Conker didn't much care though, so we kept going after I snapped a couple shots of the grass.

Interesting...

Eventually we came up to a sign. A set of signs... warning that the trail was hazardous up ahead. I was quite interested to now what "hazardous" meant, and if it was anything like the trails I'd normally hiked while living in Arizona.

Part 2

Arizona Adventure: Get the Moe*

*When I tell Conker to get something, I normally shorten the name or say it stupidly.  In the ground-critter's case, it was called a moe instead of mole, I don't think it was actually a mole though.

One of the adventures Conker and I had in Buckeye Arizona took place on the portion of undestroyed undeveloped desert between the large complex of neighborhoods and the busy I-10.  The adventure was incredibly fun and stimulating for Conker, because it involved a potential snack.


I spied a small critter sitting atop a hole in the ground not too far from our current position.  I think it was a ground squirrel, but due to the population of moles at the dog park I decided to call it one since Conker understood that a mole meant an opportunity to dig.  I turn, look at Conker and say, "Lets git d' moe!" in a stupid voice. Conker's ears perk at the words, especially the last, and he waits for me to point out the moe's location.  Dead ahead, I motion with my arm.  His gaze follows and Conker spots the moe as it flashes into it's den.

That brief glance was enough.  He was at the end of the leash in a split second, pulling hard to reach the hidden critter.  As we neared it's den I could see Conker grow more and more excited.  He promptly stuck his nose into the den and inhaled deeply when he was close enough so to do.

Conker did not need to be told what to do.  He began to scratch at the entrance to the den, first making smaller gouges in the soft earth then progressively harder and deeper scratches.  Soon he was digging full-force in an attempt to unearth the moe.

"Where's the moe?"  I ask in an excited tone. Conker shoves his muzzle into the hole up to his eyes.  I can hear him sniffing hard, searching in the darkness for the small snack.  "Git dat moe Conker!"  I cheer as he resumes digging.  A small pile of dirt had begun to appear between his legs.

After a short while Conker started to get discouraged.  The moe had not shown itself and he appeared to be getting bored of digging.  "You haven't found the moe yet!"  I say as Conker examines the exterior of the somewhat-collapsed den, his small black nose working hard to find a fresh scent.

That was enough to get him started again.  He attacked the entrance with a newfound fury, digging quickly and sloppily in hopes of finding the critter quick.  "Git it! Git it, Conker!"  I say, egging him on as soft dirt flies in all directions.  Then, as if he willed it, the moe appeared, but it was in the wrong hole!

Conker chagred the ground-thing but didn't seem to notice the rather difficult bush in his way.  No matter, he's a Shiba! That bush will bend to his will if he wishes it so.
And that's what it did. Conker shoved his way through the bush and almost got the moe but it dashed back into the hidden den entrance beneath the bush's roots.

 Conker returned to the first entrance and continued excavation.  He dug faster and harder and began to bury my feet with the interior of the moe's den.  He was determined to catch it now that it had the gall to openly mock him like that. "You gonna let it escape, Conker?  Git d' moe!  Git it!"  I say.

The entrance was no longer a muzzle-sized hole in the ground.  It was a crater big enough for Conker to fit most of his front half into.  He paused to shove his face in deep and inhale many times, his nose searching for the moe that had probably escaped through a different tunnel by now.

Despite his apparent defeat, Conker continued to dig.  He cleared out a hole slightly larger than a cubic foot and made a heap of dirt several inches high and two feet wide.  If he wanted he could have curled up into the hole.
But no moe appeared.  It was lucky, this time, that Conker is not that great of a digger.

Over the course of the rest of the week, every time we would go out into the undeveloped desert, Conker would go back to the hole and snuff around for the moe.  It was never there, and had probably wised up and moved to a new location where Conker could not harass it by destroying it's front door.

Back in Oregon!

Both drives were uneventful.  Both times we stopped at my Mom's friend's house somewhere in central California (Turlock) and both times I gave the resident dog, Pepper, an adorable Lab-Springer? mix a bully stick in return for letting Conker stay in her house. 

As you may have read, my point-and-shoot died and I have been using Mom's camera which while it is functional, I do not like it's huge lack of options so the picture quality has dropped. The dang thing also rearranged the order of pictures.

Anyways... Here are some pictures of the trip.

Conker being "comfortable" in the car on the ride down.  It's quite hard to get pictures of Conker while in the car since I am normally driving, and I hate the flash so I never use it.

Conker was put in the backyard (much to his displeasure, it was 65 out a lot of the time) due to him being a beggar when food was present.  He also decided to be a douche and boycotted doing his stuff on the rocks so I had to walk him around for an hour or more so he could find a suitable spot to deposit his... goodies... instead of doing it in the yard.

On several of our frequent daily walks we ditched the sidewalks and crushed pebble pathways that twisted through urbania to explore the stretch of unfenced desert between the housing development and the I-10.  These adventures would have been off-leash if it were not for the proximity of the interstate to the development, as you can see in the background of the above image, so I kept Conker leashed in order to prevent him from becoming a Shiba-splat on the asphalt. 
On one of these excursions Conker excavated a ground squirrel or other rodent-type critter's home.

Conker was bored a lot of the time since us humans were often doing other things that did not involve him.  He at one point ignored me completely in favor of laying in the cool shade (since it was, you know, a boiling 70 degrees that day) near the sculpture thing I made for my Grandparent's 50th anniversary. 
And much to my surprise, he only barked at golfers once despite them and their carts being very visible from the backyard.

This post would not be complete without a picture of at least one of Conker's meals.

So here it is. Christmas food was some Honest Kitchen topped off with raw turkey fat, gizzard and heart.  Christmas also marks the day I began raw/home-cooking/alternatives to kibble-feeding Conker.
But that was not enough for the crafty Shiba!   He jumped up onto the table and took a whole turkey leg and made a mess of it on the carpet.  And since he'd touched most of it, he was allowed to keep it after I removed the bone and weird stringy things.

We dinked around in the backyard with Conker's only real Christmas present from me quite a bit.  It's now his new favorite toy since it can do everything. (Kudos if you can guess what it is.)

We met Taro, who is the cutest little dude I have ever seen ever, and his friends Rinji and Mika at a spiffy place called Arizona Dog Sports where the Shibas ignored each other and the humans for most of the time.  Despite Conker being a butthead, it was a lot of fun and I was able to get him to go over a few jumps and through a tunnel which was surprising for me.

We went on a 7 mile hike in the White Tank Mountains the day before we left AZ.  It was a load of fun since it was a real hike with rocks and scrambling and stabbings by cactus (which will be further written about later) and I wish we could have gotten in about three more of these but that just didn't happen.
Conker really enjoyed this and thankfully didn't throw out either of his knees on the rocks.

Conker was not pleased to be in the car again on the way back.  He was good about it though, and slept most of the way and was generally a good dog.

Funny thing.  My Grandparents like Conker so much (despite me telling them that he was not his full self at their house) that they wanted to keep him!  They want to get a dog soon and offered Conker a new home but declined the counter-offer when they heard that he's not only expensive but I am part of the deal if he were to stay.

And that's it for the Arizona trip!  Largely boring with a few good parts. 

Post

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Conker and I!

Due to stupidly slow internet, this is probably going to be the last update for a while.

Arizona

We got to AZ late last night.  Conker was good in the car the whole way which was nice.

Anyways, internet access is incredibly limited so updates will probably not happen.  A post detailing the AZ vacation will be up sometime around or after new year. Other updates will be sparse or nonexistant.

Phoenix Arizona, prepare to be invaded!

Conker the Shiba Inu will be visiting the southwest this upcoming holiday season!  I would love to get together with any Phoenix area Shibas and their owners, if time allows, sometime this December.  I don't yet have definite dates as to when we'll be there but I do know we're going and that it'll probably be sometime after the 17th (kids gotta get out of school) and we'll be coming back to Oregon around new years eve.  We will most likely be staying in Buckeye with the Grandparents (haha so far from the actual city) but I've got a sister in Central Phoenix right across the street from Indian School Park and wouldn't mind driving there or a bit farther to have a mini Shiba-meet at a favorite dog park.

Anyways, let me know if any of you are interested in meeting us!  I should be getting definite dates sometime soon and will post them when I know what they are.