Sunday January 15, 2011
Malibu, California
Cool and possibly some rain?
Since I'm not good at keeping New Year's resolutions, I decided to create a short list for Ms. Yuki. Top of the list is to get her in better shape by taking her to some long walks. As some of you might know, she does not like to hike. But I read about an easy and good hike for small dogs somewhere while googling "hike with dogs" and realized it's a trail in Zuma Canyon which is very close to me. And I've done lots of hikes there but never the Zuma Canyon trail which is a 2.8 mile roundtrip flat hike.
The best way to get there is to make a right on Bonsall off PCH (its just before Zuma beach ifyou are gong North on PCH). The road basically dumps you in the parking lot.
At the beginning Yuki was excited because she saw horses and 2 dogs. The hike went smoothly albeit sloow as she is a sniffer and walks SO SLOW. We made it with no incidents to the end of the trail. BTW, one can continue but it requires climbing over boulders, etc and is rated an extremely difficult hike.
I gave Yuki some water and we started heading back. 5 minutes into the walk she stopped and refused to move. Well, we had about 1.3 miles of walking still to do but she refused to move. So I ended up carrying her until out of nowhere came 2 deer that scared both of us. After that Yuki was on a mission to find them and since I was walking too slow for her, she decided to walk on her own and we power walked back. We also ran into 2 donkeys and 2 horses, which freaked her out! But that got her walking even faster as now she was freaked out and just wanted to get back to the car. Once back in the car, she was back to pretending she is a tough dog and started growling at the horses "parked" in the parking lot.
That night, which happened to be a full moon, she slept soundly and had lots of dreams where for the first time ever, I heard her howl. Not once, but twice, and while sound asleep. I wonder if it was the deer or the horses she was dreaming about...
The beginning of the trail: We've had some Santa Ana winds so it's been dry. All the creek crossings were void of water.
Yuki at the beginning of the hike. Brave and Strong!
Telling me to get going
It's quite beautiful and should be an even more beautiful hike after the rains as the trail is surrounded with many trees and wild flowers.
Instead of taking the "direct" route, we took the scenic route which was surrounded with wildflowers albeit dormant and great views of the mountains.
Nearing the end of the trail. One can follow the creek and climb over boulders which will take you to the backbone trail but it is extremely difficult and can be dangerous during rain season.
A little picnic area at the end of the trail
Yuki refusing to walk and wanting to be carried. I did not take any photos during the walk back as I was either carrying her or walking fast as she was on a mission to either catch the deer or escape from the horses.
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