The canyon calls and I am ready. Twelve degrees means the air will be clean and the ground solid under my paws.

There is something about Dry River Canyon that asks for stillness first. The car ride builds anticipation but once we arrive I sit at the trailhead and take inventory. Gus is already investigating a patch of something interesting near the parking area. The junipers hold yesterday’s rain. The smell reaches me before we take a step.

This is not Hollinshead with its open grass and social possibilities. This is older territory. The kind of place where a dog remembers what his nose was built for. The trails wind between rocks that have been here longer than any of us. There will be scents I have never catalogued.

I adjust my position slightly and wait for the signal. The day is exactly what it should be for this kind of work.

#pawscarwilde

#dryrivercanyon