A Walk in The Wilderness. . .

Saturday, April 3, 2010

OK, so it's not really wilderness. It's in Norco, about 5 minutes from our house, but it might as well be miles and miles away. I got home the other day in time to get over to the Hidden Valley Wildlife Park before it closed. I knew it would be a quick trip, but I wanted to check it out and see what the dogs thought about it.

Not a tough question, really. Are there wide open spaces? Check. Can they run? Check. Can they get filthy? Check. Are there birds and squirrels to chase? Check and check. Yeah, they loved it, even for the short time we had there.

When you get to the park, you drive in down a short dirt road, park, and then walk a paved path down towards the Santa Ana River where are the trails are. There is a lot of animal droppings everywhere so I don't recommend taking a puppy there who hasn't had all his shots.

People ride horses along the trails, so you need to pay attention to what is going on around you. We let Ninja run a bit off leash, but I'm not totally secure with letting Penny run off leash yet. Do you see that field in the first picture? Would you want to chase an Aussie through a field like that? Me neither. She seemed perfectly happy to walk with us on the leash.

This shot is the path that leads down to the river. You can see how fine the dirt is on the path, which lead to a couple of very dusty Aussies. I still have dusty paw prints in the back of my car!

We walked along at a brisk pace, then took a break for a minute. Here's a shot of the dogs both thinking we should go off in different directions. Maybe they are just watching each other's backs. :) There is just so much to look at in this park, such as squirrels, lizards, birds, water, trails, horses, and on and on. I'd like to go back on a Saturday and spend a few hours there where we could really play and let them get really dirty!

My daughter caught a cute shot of Penny Lane. I like the look in her eyes. She seems very content to be out in the Norco wilds!


When we came across a mother and daughter with a white pit bull, they warned us that they'd pulled off 4 ticks from their dog that afternoon. Yuck! I immediately checked out dogs but no ticks, thank goodness. They also warned us that they had seen several coyotes. Coyotes rarely attack humans unless they are totally desperate, but since it was getting close to park closing time I decided to get us all home. I didn't want to be responsible for two dogs, a little girl and me if a coyote came around!


It was a quick trip but a fun one. The pups came home a took a nap, both on their sides with legs stretched straight out. Isn't that the universal sign of a relaxed and tired doggy?