The Santa Clara Tract Northern Flow - Part 3

The dogs and I had been walking the trail along the widened Northern Flow, part of the St. Regis River (see previous two posts). It was a happy, wild experience:

And the dogs were having fun. I never officially turned back toward the trail head. The trail loops around on its own, so we just kept walking:

Soon we were back in sight of the water. Clover ran full speed to get to it:

It had been several minutes since they played in the water, so they had to do it all over again:

Clover was never a water dog before, so her newfound interest surprised me:

Fergus and Daphne waded, but Jack had discovered the joys of rolling in stinky swamp mud. Life can't get much better for a formerly abused, terrified Shelter dog:

I was happy too:

The dogs ran ahead, exploring everything with great joy. We met an older woman with a young girl. Luckily, they were dog lovers, for my crew greeted them with excessive enthusiasm:

We were getting close to the trail head at this point:

Wildflowers were in bloom all along the way:

And then we spotted our car, just ahead. I always love how the dogs are just as excited and happy to get back in the car as they were to get out of it at the beginning of a hike. Life is one joy after another: