return to amasa back

On Sunday it was ... cloudy!  (We're beginning to wonder if the sun will ever come out in Moab while we're there.)  That did not dissuade us from putting on our hiking gear and heading down the Kane Creek Road to the Amasa Back trails.

We did the same hike that we did last June although there were a few differences.  The winter cow gate was closed (and we kept it closed, as instructed); we saw no motorized vehicles of any kind (dirt bikes, jeeps or other 4x4s); and Milton didn't have to be on the leash this time.  He really seems to enjoy this kind of hiking, where he can run around but always have us in view.  It's much more pleasant for us as well as we still haven't taken him to obedience classes to work on not pulling on the leash.  He does really well at coming back when we call him, however, and I feel like that's one of the most important things.

Heading up the Hymasa trail

Even off leash he did pretty well with the MTBers.  I'm sure it helps that many of them are dog people themselves!  When we saw them coming, we were able to call him back and keep him out of their way; we only had one instance where his being on the trail made a MTBer put their foot down, and it was a narrow, technical bit that I'm not sure that guy was going to ride anyway.  (Plus the guy gave him an ear rub so all was forgiven.)

Looking back towards the Amasa Back trails from the Cliffhanger spur

After a snack break at the overlook, we took a quick walk up to the ridge on the Cliffhanger jeep trail spur.  Apparently this is a dead-end overlooking the Colorado River and the Poison Spider trailhead but we didn't go all the way out to see for ourselves.

We had more important things to do like: descend via the jeep trail and return to the parking lot where Milton, still off leash, walked directly over to a group of MTBers drinking beers and introduced himself.  He also made friends with two girls and their pack of three dogs, one of whom was also an Underdog rescue, just like him.  When our beers were done, we had to convince him to get back in the car and go home with us.  We may be dog-people but our dog is a people-person.

Desert boys

Hike stats:  6.62 miles; 2:25 and 2.7 m.p.h. moving / 2:51 and 2.3 m.p.h. overall; 980' elevation