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17 May ~2008
I loaded two 10-liter dromedary bags of water into my backpack, and placed my cooking gear and food on top of them. I filled two 30 inch stuff sacks with my sleeping bag and tent and clothes and strapped them to the outside of the pack. 43 pounds of water and 35 pounds more of gear. I was worried if I could handle it, but it felt fine once I got it shouldered. My constant training so I can backpack at any time paid off. I made it down the canyon and then back up into a hidden corridor of Entrada Sandstone with no problems, othering than my feet starting to hurt at the end, just before I made it to where I planned to camp.I understand that at age 56 the years ahead will make a load like that harder and harder. My goal however is to do it for 20 more years at least. The way to make that possible is to always carry heavy loads as part of my weekly routine, and I do.
If I were going by myself I might only need a third of the water I took. I can't imagine heading to the backcountry without dogs though. They enjoy the adventure and discovery the same as me, and I am a dog person.
The routine of our days is to explore in the morning, then work our way back to camp to eat and rest during the heat of the day, and then go out again in the evening, until dark. The magic of the desert is seen at those times. The warmth of midday is something to be avoided. That is how the creatures that live there manage.
When we are off trail that far I never put the dogs on leash. They are out in front of me, and I watch how they react to what we come across. It was Ben who located the skull of the young Coyote. I sat it back down where we found it, on a bare sandstone escarpment, facing West.
I had my daughter's dog with me, 3 year old Drift, since Maggie is recovering from ACL surgery. Drift watches everthing Ben does, and follows him around. On the few times that Drift got absorbed in some wild scent, and looked up to find Ben nowhere in sight, he took off at a run, searching until he found his older Brother in spirit.
Ben is Drift's teacher. Before our trip was over Drift was leaping up beside Ben on boulders and cliffs, copying Ben's habit of always wanting to be on the high spot, to look around at what can be seen.
These dogs are smart, and being out in the wilderness with them as much as I am, I see that they possess a sense of awe.
That is evident when they make it to a high place and pause to see all that is around. What they are feeling then, be it gratitude or pleasure or satisfaction or whatever you want to call it, surely would be a dog's prayer if they had one.
And being out there and listening to the mystery of the silence, feeling the cool of night, seeing the milky way spread out above, makes me believe that those who know wildness will always walk in places like ones they loved.
That young Coyote is already there, but we are on its trail.
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"We yearn for the company of dogs because they return us to an ancient way of life, vanishing now. It is the power of the natural world to reacquaint us with our quieter selves, the part now buried alive in the noise and glare of modern life and the new habit of nonstop connection with others.
- Martha Sherrill