A Relaxing Day at Continental Divide, Highway 90 South

Earlier this week, we spent a lovely few hours hanging around at a local Continental Divide Trail trail head. It is conveniently located off Highway 90, South and tends to get referred to by its location there. We have stopped here many times before, sometimes as a dog bathroom stop on our way out of town and sometimes as a hike. It is about 35 minutes from where we live and comes pre-loaded with innumerable regular rabbits and jackrabbits. Most times there are cows there too. It’s great!

During this recent visit, I decided I wanted a more relaxing afternoon. Instead of planning a hike, I packed a big towel and my computer. We parked in the shade and I set up a mini-workstation nearby, complete with a water bowl for the dogs.

Sydney got out and immediately charged the cows – this is said to be very dangerous. We are not as concerned as we once were, because we have seen her do it several times. It only results in her getting scared back to us. She runs almost all the way up to them, they turn slowly toward her (in cow time), she bolts sideways and ends up returning shortly thereafter. Trooper does the same thing. They are bluffing. We did not take any cow pictures. But here are several different lizards we saw.

It was around 90 degrees outside but not terribly humid. I threw the ball for Sydney for about 10 minutes and then she started exhibiting signs of boredom or fatigue. One of the things I love about this place is that it has stretches that are super open – allowing activities like ball and frisbee – but is also separated by random trees – creating the feeling of privacy. There are not a lot of places in our high desert environment that are both open and free of cacti.

Trooper was free to roam, his favorite activity in the whole wide world, during our entire visit. When Sydney was done with ball, I sat on my towel and worked for about 40 minutes. Trooper came and went; Sydney took off, following Brian around while he explored. When I was done, I chucked Sydney her frisbee and then Brian and I played with ours for awhile. (Sydney really wants to play with us but we don’t let her bite our good frisbee. Instead, we give her one to carry around and she runs between us when we throw ours, as if she is playing with us.)

When we were done with frisbee, we put everything in the car and went for a mini-hike. Our objective was to crest a hill nearby. We hiked up, noticed the storm in the distance and then leisurely made our way back to the car.

When we had had enough, we headed back to the car, loaded up and drove home. It was a nice variation on our usual theme, which has been to park, hike about 30 minutes until we hit water, sit by the water or explore the rocks, and then head back. This time, we created a type of home base and played around.

I worked on the dogs’ undercoat while watching a movie. It is amazing how fast their hair grows. It was a good day.