Woman Who Walks with Dogs: Valley Fog; Higher Elevation Sunshine

The Willamette Valley, especially the southern part, can be very foggy during the winter months. When the fog bank isn't too thick, though, lots of sunshine is to be had with only a short elevation gain. The Lewisburg Saddle isn't always high enough but this morning conditions were just right to allow a short drive to a lovely walk in the sun. We walked one of my favorite out and back routes.

The air was cold and lots of frost on the ground when we arrived around 8:30 am. Last week, the Saddle parking area was covered in cars but today, thankfully, only a couple of folks had beat us up there. The dogs enjoyed the chilly weather and there was lots of running, chasing, wrestling, and gallivanting on the way along the forest road.

Although this area is wooded and dense with wildlife, we rarely see any wild creatures while we walk other than birds. There is the occasional squirrel or deer, rarely a briefly glimpsed coyote. However there are a lot of wildlife signs, even along this very well traveled and frequently used route. At one spot especially, the deer cross the road and the dogs have lots of interesting scents to investigate. As we ambled along, Big Dog was especially distracted by something interesting. As the puppy wandered ahead, Big Dog stayed behind with his head lifted, sniffing and sniffing. Certain that something was near, I looked to the side of the road cut. There was a butt sticking out. More specifically, I saw a lifted tail, a butt hole, and lots of quills. This was an unwelcome site on so many levels. It was a porcupine with its head firmly buried in the blackberry bramble and only it's rear end sticking out. Fortunately, neither dog saw the grouchy rodent and we passed on by leaving Mr. Spiny Pants undisturbed.

The rest of our walk unfolded uneventfully for a 3.5 mile jaunt.

Here are a couple of photos from yesterday for your viewing pleasure: