LOST

As far as I am concerned Rudy is always rushing head long into possible disaster. Moments after the photo above was snapped he stepped on the window control and rolled the window up so that his head was stuck and he was dangling and choking for a moment (until I freed him) from the window shut on his neck. That was his first brush with death today. We drove out to Pecos today and hiked about 6 miles in the Pecos Wilderness at Holy Ghost. It is one of my most favorite places on the planet.



Spring is just on the brink of exploding out there... the aspens don't even have visible buds yet but most of the other trees are well on their way to being green. The aspen trees are so beautiful with or without leaves. There is no other tree like them.

So when you make back to Holy Ghost you park in the group campground and start the hike back into the Pecos Wilderness. And when I say wilderness... people I mean it. There is nuthin' out there. I think you could hike all the way up in to Colorado without seeing a house or a road once you get underway out there. Here is a shot of what the entry into the trail head area looks like...



Be sure to blow that one up to see the detail... it's a beauty. So we headed out with Rudy and we wanted to go farther than we ever have in the past... you get up pretty high into the mountains on this trail and we were in search of a point where you get an amazing view looking back at the Santa Fe Baldy and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. It's a great place for Rudy because he can be off leash. He has a blast. The trail pretty much follows the Holy Ghost Creek so he is in and out of the water and running like a fool though the woods. I am sure that area is over run with smells of deer, elk, bear... you name it, it's up there. It's dog heaven.



Once we got up high in to the deeper woods we stopped for a rest. We are totally acclimated to the elevation out here now... but I think we were up there high enough that the air was getting thin. I was feeling like I was breathing through a wad of wool in my throat. Billy is of course cool as a cucumber at all times in his gangster hat.





And Rudy was still peeling out left and right chasing imaginary creatures through the woods. We made it to a point where there started to be an abundance of snow... the trail was not well maintained and it was hard to see it with the drifts of snow crossing over it. It was a bummer but we decided to head back. This was where things got stupid. Remember... we are at this moment about a two hour hike from the truck. Rudy starts running mad. He is shooting off in to the woods running up and down. Then... he disappears. Completely. Gone. The woods are dead silent and he is totally freakin' gone. Nice. So we start yelling and clapping and whistling for him. Nothing. Not a sound can be heard other than a faint wind in the trees. This went on for about ten minutes until I starting saying things like... "Well... he is gone." Just like that. My dog is gone into the Pecos Wilderness. I was pissed. I mean... what the Hell Rudy? How the Hell do I explain this one to people? I was saying "Something got him Billy... something got him." And I have to admit I was mildly worried that whatever got him may decide to come after me next. We kept yelling. I was yelling REALLY LOUD. It was kind of weird how loud I was yelling... and to know that no one else could hear me. Then.... in the distance I heard a rustling. And finally TAH DAH! Here comes the little jack ass running full steam down the trail. He was soaking wet from head to tail. Where the Hell had he been? We have decided that perhaps he was frolicking with a mythical beast such as a unicorn.... just out of our visual range. Why else would he have ignored my yelling? It must have been a magical creature who had him under a spell of sorts or he never would have done it. So yeah... we got him. He came back. But for a really bizarre few minutes up there I thought we had ended our career as the parents of Rudy. He was totally busted man... we even put him on the leash for about half of the walk back down. Is this not the face of someone who is totally busted?



Yeah... totally. We made it back to the truck and home without incident. We have one heck of a pooped out terrier in our bed right now. He is wrecked. I love it. And my evening is much more relaxed and enjoyable than it would have been had I been forced to hike back out without my dog and come home and lay in bed wondering what was eating him or if he was freezing to death or whatever. We will never know where he went or what he seemed to think he was doing.

There you have it. I am hittin' the hay. Happy trails people...