I woke up with the first lightening of the sky, long before the sun crested the mountains that frame our valley to the east. The outside thermometer read around 70 degrees, which felt like dog walking weather to me. At first, the breeze coming up the valley felt cool but soon the humidity of that marine air grew oppressive. When we got to the levy, I could see that the flash floods that had ravaged the mountain canyons had made it down to our part of the watershed, leaving the river bottom begrimed with a layer of fine, gray silt. Wary of quick sand, I avoided damp areas upriver from large rocks, which I’ve learned can leave you wet to the mid-calf and with shoes covered in mud. We followed the stream bed upriver enjoying the hard-packed sand. Molly found a spot of shade under a rock and burrowed into the mud.

Since we still had about two miles to go and our water was nearly depleted, we headed cross country back towards the levy and home. Much to Sadie’s delight, there were dozens of young rabbits out that clearly needed chasing. She came back after each futile effort, her ragged panting evidence of having had all the fun a dog could possibly have. Molly watched with interest but couldn’t work up much enthusiasm for running in the dispiriting heat.

This time of year, we can only walk in the early morning or late evening which means our walks are much shorter than in cooler seasons. I was disheartened to find that today’s walk, a scant four miles made my legs feel tired.

On one of our evening walks, I snapped this shot of the last of the fire fighting helicopters returning to base. If you look closely, you can see the chopper and below it a speck that is the basket in which they tote water to the fire. Those pilots are my heroes!