Dear Isaac, Maia, and Virtual Wanderers,

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park campground is like 20 minutes from my front door via my Honda Fit. I have driven it, hiked it, and been to the pull-outs many, many times. Why have I never camped there? Too close to home, maybe. This year, I decided to give it a shot.

July was hot this year. I was hoping for some escape the heat when I loaded up the dogs for the short drive on a Sunday afternoon. Fortunately, there was shade near our site so we hung out there until it cooled off some. That evening, we took part of the hike to the Visitor’s Center – but not too far because there was a ranger show that night. Koko enjoyed the hike, but the people at the amphitheater made her nervous. We left after about an hour and headed back to camp.

The next day was forecast to be the hottest in the year. I was thinking it was an apex, but it was just a hot start to a very warm summer. We went for an early hike on the same trail as the day before. Koko was still being held to a mile or two total distance because of her perineal hernia repair surgery and I didn’t want her overheating with her heart valve disease. So, we didn’t make it the whole way – but we did get a mile or two for our Hikers 365 challenge before it got too hot.

The afternoon was long. It was too hot to do anything physical – nearly 100. The shade disappeared as the sun hit the high noon position. The only place with shade was the island between our pull-in and the main road. I set up chairs and read all afternoon while the dogs slept in the sun. We walked around the campground that night and returned for another ranger show – on bats if I remember correctly. Koko was, again antsy around the strangers. I didn’t think much of it.

I would say it was my strangest night camping ever. You see, my old bladder woke me up about 4 AM. I barely opened the tent flap to do my thing and something black jumped onto my lap and out the door – OMG could that be Kokopelli? It was like watching a miniature polar bear run into a snow storm – and she was not responding to me calling her. She was on a mission down the road!

I was stunned, half asleep. I looked around at Kachina, hoping I imagined it. I didn’t. What happened to my compliant little bed rest dog? I didn’t have time to process – I just got my shoes and socks on as quickly as I could. I leashed Kachina and grabbed Koko’s leash and a flashlight – it seemed to take forever and all I could do was picture her running away further and further into the black night.

I called her as I shined the flashlight to both sides of the road. I am thinking how dumb this is to look for a little black dog in the dark. Perhaps we should go back and try again at daylight? It was just about then that my flashlight caught a flicker of something glimmering – Koko’s reflective cooling collar! There she was, sitting in the middle of the road 7 sites down. She wanted to play a catch game. I sat still and made her come to me – but it took time, patience, and Kachina. We headed back to camp – I was so relieved that I fell back to sleep (with Koko tethered inside the tent) for a few more hours.

The next day, we headed home after some short walks at a couple pull-offs. You know how they say rescue dogs do a 3-day – 3-week – 3-month thing? Well, here we are almost 3 months to the day I adopted her (but only 8 weeks post-op) and she decided to test boundaries. This is why she has a Tractive now and is always tethered in the tent when we can’t. Her little Japanese Chin self cannot be trusted if she gets bored!

Love Ya’All, Cathy Hartt (Grandma Hartt)