ANOTHER DESERT WALK......AND A LOST PUPPY DOG...

Yes, I have more sunset photos....

...You just don't seem to get these sunsets in Illinois...

  Last night we watched our new favorite show....Border Wars on NatGeo channel...It was very interesting to us, because it had to do with the Tohono O'odham special ops unit called The Shadow Wolves.  These are Native Americans from the Tohono O'odham Nation who assist Border Patrol in finding illegals and drug smugglers. They use their great tracking skills in combination with new technology in locating the bad guys out here on their Indian Nation. As I have said, we are sitting on the Western edge of the Tohono O'odham Nation. According to the show, some of the Native American ranchers out here will talk ONLY to the Shadow Wolves and not Border Patrol. The Shadow Wolves headquarters is their local fire department, where they take suspicious vehicles to be torn down in search of drugs. (Dennis is a retired firefighter, and I can tell you that fire departments have some great tools for tearing apart cars!!) If you are interested in learning more, you can find lots of great info here... Shadow Wolves
One of their drug stops was made on Rt. 86, 26 miles South of Tucson, Hickiwan Trails RV Park sits on that very route, at the Western side. The Shadow Wolves get ATV's and spray paint them olive drab so they can not be seen as easily when patroling the Sonoran Desert on their reservation. They actually get off the ATV's  and track shoe prints in the sand, and fabric threads in the branches and cactus...Their saying is "The sign will talk, if the tracker will listen"..This website is well worth the look. The question is, "How do you protect a 2,000 mile long line in the sand?"...Great question!!

Our walk today took us back into the desert. I love getting out and away from the congestion of a campground. Things are beginning to green up around here...What use to look like a dead stick with thorns, now was becoming alive with waxy leaves..This is and Ocotillo Cactus...

We wandered around to the valley behind the ridge. This takes us into a beautiful valley..

This valley was full of great Saguaro Cactus. We had gradually been climbing and you could see a long way when you looked off to the Northeast..I have to stop myself from picking up many more quartz or what I hope are rose chalcedony. The last time we did this, my pants were almost around my knees,my pocket was so heavy with rocks...

In the area close to the mountain we found quite a few rocky areas and some had a green growth of some sort on them. I cannot believe this could be caused by any moisture..there just isn't any here..

We came all the way around the ridge and again we had a beautiful vista in front of us...

I enjoy these desert walks..It is so quiet and peaceful out there. We always take our GPS, just in case, but we are getting pretty good at finding our way around the ridges. I prefer to stay away from the trails. I feel more like an "explorer" if I don't see any sneaker prints in the sand I walk on...Burros prints are OK, though. Actually we haven't spotted one burro since the big storm went through here..

...if these rocks, hills and valleys could only talk....

This bush had leaves that looked wet, but upon closer examination we found they were so waxy they shone in the sunshine...Look how green they are ...

We got back to our camper about noon after we clocked about 3 1/2 miles, according to the GPS. I think we needed the extra miles to wear off the breakfast we had...an egg scrambled with potatoes and Canadian bacon...It was sinfully yummy, and we certainly don't need any lunch!
I sat outside reading and watched as the traffic in the RV park became heavy..Three big rigs pulled in within about 1/2 hour...

(You should be able to click on any smaller picture to enlarge it...)
  While I was sitting outside, I noticed a little bulldog who came walking down the RV road by himself and not on a leash. I had seen him earlier with a couple who were parked across from us. He was on his leash and they took him for a walk toward the desert.
I watched as he went to that exact camper and put his feet up on the steps like he wanted in. Nobody came to the door to let him in. I continued to watch as he walked around the camper and back to the door looking up. He just stayed around that camper, sometimes sitting by the road. I had the feeling he gotten loose from his leash somehow when they were walking in the desert...The little guy found his way back to his house...hopefully his mom and dad will do the same!

Doesn't he look pathetic?? He is standing by their truck..
  I took a bike ride around the park, looking toward the desert to see if anyone was wandering and calling a dog, but I didn't see anyone. Just as I was about to go in and ask Den if we should just tie him up by their camper with a rope, I noticed a gentleman coming down the trail by himself...and he seemed out of breath and upset...I asked him if he had lost a dog, and he replied yes, he had. I pointed to the little dog by their camper. By this time the dog had recognized his owner and was coming toward us, wagging his tail. The man was pretty upset with the dog and said to him,"Your are in BIG trouble!"....With this, the dog stopped wagging his tail and put his ears down.. I felt a bit sorry for the dog, and I would have put my ears down too.....
  The man put his dog inside their camper, then left in his truck. A few minutes later the truck came out of the desert and there was a lady was in the truck too. I think she had still been out in the desert calling the dog...No dog treats tonight, Fido...If they had a doghouse you would be in it!!
  OK, it is 4:30PM...Dinner tonight is hot Italian grilled sausage...the Grillmaster will take care of that. Tomorrow is laundry day so it's up early and "get r' done!!" It's suppose to be cloudy tomorrow with a chance of rain..., but...the weekend looks as if it will be an award winner!! More tomorrow....and thanks for playing...