A Hike Behind The House

With all the exciting activity the hounds and the dog had on Sunday, they were in the dream state of sleep very early Sunday night. In fact when I turned off the lights to head to bed, not one of them moved. I left them there to sleep in the dark. 

I did something today that I have always wanted to do. Go out as far as I could to walk behind my house. I have seen a few hikers, some ATVs, some dirt bikes and pickup trucks for those that are moving cattle through the area. This is at the end of my block as I walked out into the vacant land.

If I were to make an immediate right out of the concrete wash, I would be walking right behind my fence. This was the plan before I even moved here, for our daily dog walks. After the first day and a million barking dogs I never took Heidi and Stella down this way again.

Instead of taking the right turn I followed the only thing that looked like a path toward the natural wash. 

This is the direction I have walked from ... unexpected fencing. Which means only the 3 hikers I have seen in almost 2 years have walked the same path as I am. Those ATVs, trucks and dirt bikes were on the other side of the fence where there is a wide dirt road.

As I walk north .. that natural wash I speak of in some blog posts behind my fence, is to the right of me and has steep banks, no paths of any kind to lead that way.

After seeing only 3 hikers in almost 2 years walking behind my house, don't you think this trail is pretty worn??? I have a sneaky suspicion that is what the neighbors dog is barking at late at night or like Saturday 3am. Probably some night walkers out here. Why else would the path be so worn???

That is my house on the right, while I stand on the bank on the other side of the wash, if I were looking from my patio.

Photo doesn't capture just how steep it is to the bottom of the wash.

I remember seeing that chair dumped behind my neighbors house. After I mentioned it to his son, the chair disappeared.  Why is it's location now, not a surprise?

This fence has been here a long time based on the surface of that metal post.

If I were to make a left I would be over by the new gate where I saw the rancher the other day and took a photo of his truck posted on this blog.

There was a path to the right though that led me into the end of the wash and near the end  of my street.

Going up.

Looking back where I came from and what the trail would look like if I just followed the fence line.

It took a while for the hounds and the dog to figure out it was just me walking toward them. I did hear Stella barking a few houses away, telling me the puppies were playing with her. They like to wrestle with her unless I am around to stop them. Two on one isn't fair, especially with bad hips.

I was told today by a wife of a border patrol agent ... they sent her husband to DC for 6 months. Why?? The border is down here not up there. Another told me that 40% of the border patrol agents are now pushing paperwork at the immigrant processing centers, most were pulled off their duties monitoring the wall. Also I was notified that hiking out by the San Pedro River is not advisable at this time. A hiker found a dumped cell phone with maps, directions and connection phone numbers, photos of the maps, all in Spanish.

I am gone in 16 days.