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There were times I wasn’t sure how I could possibly keep going. We stopped for a quick lunch, worried that we wouldn’t find another spot without wind, before the possible rain began. Of course there were moments of frustration and pain – where we couldn’t feel our frozen faces or fingers, where we couldn’t tell if our faces were smiling or crying. I am not sure how I got so lucky to be on this journey with people who’s spirits couldn’t be broken, and with a dog who repeatedly beats the odds.

But as I’ve said before – guided tours just aren’t my thing, especially because the dogs wouldn’t be welcome. The paddle, from the Marina, is a little over 3 miles EACH WAY. But for reals, this options allows you to paddle to an area of the island, just across from the mouth of Antelope Canyon, to set up camp (about a 1 mile paddle). The dogs were sufficiently exhausted from running through the canyon, that they just relaxed on the paddle out.

After ending up much further West than North, we decided to make camp in a beautiful, flat area among the hills (which helped to protect us from some slight winds). After navigating East and West and winding our way slowly North, we finally found Hunter Wash! After spending so much time, again, walking East to West we finally climbed up the tallest hill we could find to figure out how close we had gotten to Alamo wash. The hoodoos were less than a mile north of the parking area, on the west side of the road behind some low hills!

This training also included isolating the senses and testing the dog on just the sound or scent of the rattlesnake. The goal of this training is to engrain a very negative connotation to the sight, sound and scent of a rattlesnake for the dog. The trainer attempted to apply a vibrate – no effect, he moved on to a small shock – no effect, he tried a shock slightly higher – no effect. The trainer then wanted me to test both dogs together – to make sure they wouldn’t egg each other on and gain false confidence around the rattlesnake.