Just an afternoon hike

I took the boys on a hike in the canyon behind our house. We made it all the way to Sherwood Forest*** before it was time to turn back. Porter and Christian wanted to climb to Komodo Rock (Warrick refuses to call it this and wants it to be Snake Rock or Chicken Rock. He was out-voted, but still feels strongly on the issue.). This is a rock that was across the little ravine. They seemed to be doing pretty well and while it would be hard to get to them, they really weren't that far away (as the crow flies) so we could yell to each other and communicate, if needed. After climbing the rock that looked like a Komodo Dragon, they started to go up the hill instead of down. I called for them to find a trail that was lower on the mountain. They started in one direction, then suddenly turned and started going back the way they came. Warrick, Stafford and I were sitting in the shade watching them. When they got down a bit, we called to them and waved. They waved with smiles and kept running. I didn't think a thing of it as they ran the entire way home. When I got home they were sitting on our porch swing sipping water and relaxing. They said they had something to tell me and progressed to explain the adventure from their perspective. When they were by Komodo rock, they looked up above them on the mountain and saw a coyote.

That was when they "suddenly turned and started going back the way they came". When I called to them and they waved and smiled, without breaking stride, Christian told me that they were forcing smiles to try to look normal so I wouldn't be worried. We then spent the next little while looking at coyotes on the internet and even wolves and foxes to make sure it really was a coyote. They actually identified it as a jackal until we found that Jackals only live in Africa and India. Um, maybe it was a coyote. (***We name the places of interest. There is the Fishbowl, Eagle Pass, Komodo Rock, Sherwood Forest, The Cliff, Happy Tree, Bear Tree and Pride Rock. And as of yesterday we now have Coyote Crossing.)