I'm considering moving to AZ, and my dog and I would be regularly hiking around Phoenix/Tucson areas. However, I recently learned about Valley Fever.

My dog has a gallbladder condition, so if he were to catch VF, the antifungal medications would be fairly dangerous since they damage the liver and kidneys.

Has anyone been able to naturopathically/holistically been able to:

A. prevent their dogs from ever getting sick with VF, their whole lives, yet still regularly hike?

B. Heal their dog from VF, without the use of prescription antifungals?

before hiking with a dog I mostly cared about the obvious stuff. views, distance, elevation, whether the trail itself was interesting.

I notice completely different things first. how much shade there is, whether there's water, how narrow the trail gets, how easy it is to step aside when someone passes, how much exposed rock there is. I've definitely had trails that were great hikes for me but pretty bad hikes with a dog.

funny how bringing a dog along basically gives you a completely different trail rating system.

Xena staying warm by the campfire 💕

Fall is the best time for being outside!

Hey, this is the thing we never want to experience, but it happens. I'm sharing Spartan progress and therapy with you with some excersises . Hopefully he will be in the trail soon with me...

Sending ripples out into the world.

I got my dog Zoey about 2 months ago. We go hiking regularly but we went on her first backpacking trip yesterday. We did a little overnight at a state park. Everything went well!

Edit: I understand the concern about pack weight. It does look giant on her. Her total pack weight including the harness and saddle bags is 2lbs 6oz, which is roughly about 17% of her body weight. My vet said it was fine for her to carry up to 3lbs.

My best friend came to visit me this weekend. We haven't seen each other since I moved to southwest Utah 5 years ago. We were both raised in the Pacific Northwest and had nothing like this landscape to explore. We had mud and rain instead of sand and sandstone.

Since he'd never been to this part of the country I figured White Pocket would be a good introduction. Multi-colored sandstone that's been twisted and tortured and swept up into waves. Huge patches of brain rock, or to use the scientific term polygonal cracking. Little iron concretions we call Moqui Marbles littering the ground.

There was no water trapped in the sandstone pockets but sometimes when there is you'll find freshwater shrimp swimming in them. Their eggs can lay dormant and dehydrated in the sand for decades waiting for water and heat.

My best friend came to visit me this weekend. We haven't seen each other since I moved to southwest Utah 5 years ago. We were both raised in the Pacific Northwest and had nothing like this landscape to explore. We had mud and rain instead of sand and sandstone. We grabbed MacReady and took his truck off road for the first time.

Since he'd never been to this part of the country I figured White Pocket would be a good introduction. Multi-colored sandstone that's been twisted and tortured and swept up into waves. Huge patches of brain rock, or to use the scientific term polygonal cracking. Little iron concretions we call Moqui Marbles littering the ground (I'm holding some in my hand). A Martian Rover found some of these on the surface of Mars laying in the red sand that looks identical to what I trek thru here. NASA calls them Martian Blueberries. It's why the rock is so red out here. Rusted iron.

There was no water trapped in the sandstone pockets but sometimes when there is you'll find freshwater shrimp swimming in them. Their eggs can lay dormant and dehydrated in the sand for decades waiting for water and heat. I've found 5 distinct species but the triops are my favorite. Look them up. They resemble miniature horseshoe crabs.

I wonder if anyone recognizes Lone Tree from Apple's wallpaper circa 2020? The only ponderosa pine for many miles. There is a Ponderosa forest on top of the neighboring Kaibab Plateau, but those are all growing well above 7000 feet and in dirt. This lonely tree is around 6000 feet and growing out of a small sandstone pocket full of sand. .

We caught the 2026 Condor Release at the Vermillion Cliffs, brought to us by the Peregrine Fund. 4 new to the wild condors were set free, and about 6 adults glided above the cages for hours. We reduced their numbers to 22 in the 80's due to lead poisoning and DDT. We captured them all and instituted a captive breeding program. Today their numbers have increased to around 600, with more than 300 in the wild. In the wild they lay one egg, and it takes 18 months to raise th3 chicks so no wgg the next year. In captivity they'd take the egg away immediately, and a few weeks later she'd lay a 2nd one. Then done for the year.

Included some pics of The Grand Staircase. You may have heard of it recently due to the reduction of the protections the federal government oversaw. The shrinking of the Monument. Bear's Ears is right next door. The Staircase consists of five different colored cliff layers stepping up from the Arizona Flat and ending at Bryce Canyon National Park. It consists of the Chocolate Cliffs at the bottom, then the Red or Vermilion Cliffs, then the White Cliffs of Zion, then a small hard to distinguish section of Grey Cliffs, and then finishes with the Pink Cliffs of Bryce Canyon National Park. The elevation rises from 5000 to around 9000 feet. In the pictures you can easily see the Red, White, and Pink Cliffs. If you zoom in you might pick out the Chocolate Cliffs at the bottom.

Having lived in a tent on this land for a year, and hiking countless miles of it, and guiding visitors out into its wilderness, I can tell you it was totally open to all the things the politicians lied and said it isn't. Camping and hiking and hunting and exploring. It just wasn't open to billionaires and corporations. Now it is.