Shhhh.. it's Silent (valley) out here

Silent Valley club from above.

I'm now at one of my favorite spots in this country, the Silent Valley club. Dad tells me that it is in Southern California, up in the San Jacinto mountains. I can tell that by all the trees, rocks, squirrels, birds, and fresh air. Silent Valley club as Dad calls it has a lot of humans that belong to it. A club is kinda like a very large pack of dogs that come together in a very big den to play. There are lots of things here to play for humans and dogs too.

We walk around the Silent Valley club every morning.

It's a very large place. It takes us an hour and sometimes more to walk around the roads each morning. Of course, I slow Dad down a bit because I like to stop and, yes, you guessed it, sniff. There are so many dogs here that you could think of it as a club for dogs. Almost every human brings at least one and often 2 or 3 dogs with them, along with their tiny humans. I get so many p-mail messages left for me that each day's walk is an exciting time for me. Oh, if you don't know, p-mail is what Dad and I call the "marking" smells left by my fellow dogs. It's because it contains a lot of information for me. It tells me how big the dog is, how old it is, what sex it is, what mood it is in, and a few other things that I like to keep secret, just between us dogs. I usually leave a reply so the next dog will know I've been there and have read the messages. SVC has p-mail under every bush, on every tree trunk and at every lamp post.

I like to watch the birds and squirrels outside the motorhome at Silent Valley.

During the day, when we aren't walking around, I like to sit outside the motorhome and watch the squirrels, the birds and the humans. Even though it's quiet up here in the winter time, there is always something to see and smell. The trees shade me from the sun, so outside is a great place for me to be. Sometimes I'll see a gopher, a coyote, or even a raccoon. Mom and I even saw a mountain lion in a small canyon here a couple years back. Of course, I'd protect Mom from the mountain lion if he got mean.

My favorite critters to chase, the Gray Squirrel in Silent Valley Club.

Dad says that humans like it here because it is in the mountains, away from the noise, bad smells and congestion of the nearby Los Angeles area. Humans like it here because it has two swimming pools (not for dogs, but it smells pretty bad anyway so I wouldn't like it. Dad says the smell is chlorine, a toxic chemical!), hot tubs (not for dogs, but hey, who wants to boil in water anyway?), a fishing pond for the tiny humans (dogs can't swim there either, but ducks do!), places to eat, places to buy food to eat, places to play human games (like table pool, tennis, miniature golf, and play area for tiny humans). There are lots of open spaces and lots of little canyons to explore too. Us dogs don't need so much to make us happy, but humans are different. You have to give them something to do or they go crazy and destroy things.

The humans like to get wet at Silent Valley Club.

Sometimes we take a very long walk in the hills above the valley that surrounds the RV park. This takes us almost one and a half hours and boy am I exhausted after that up and down walk. There are lots of smells and I know we will see a coyote on the walk. We never see any other humans so it makes us feel like its our own path (shared with the coyotes of course).

The view on our private path above the Silent Valley Club.

Dad likes to photograph the birds. He usually puts out a feeder for them and sits back and waits for them to come. There are lots of different birds here according to Dad, including the Acorn Woodpecker, Nutall's Woodpecker, nuthatches, "Red Shafted" Northern Flicker, Black-eyed Junco, White-Crowned Sparrow, Spotted Towhee, California Towhee, Audubons' Yellow-rumped Warbler, Mountain Blue Jay, Scrub Jay, Cooper's Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, House finch, Lesser Goldfinch, Ravens, Red-winged Blackbirds, Brewer's Blackbird and many more. To me, a bird is a bird is a bird. But.. you've heard that before. I'm glad Dad has something to do that he likes.

Dad and Mom also like it here because it is so quiet after Thanksgiving. Of 850 places, often only 30 or 40 are taken by humans. (The rest are occupied by numerous Gray Squirrels, woodpeckers and Mountain jays.) Also, they like the way the sites are laid out. They are random, spaced far apart and not side-by-side. So when someone does come next to you, its not like you are in a normal RV Park. It's like you are camping, in the mountains, as you are.

Our motorhome at Silent Valley Club.

The weather is another wonderful thing about this place. When it rains, its fun to sit in the motorhome and watch the rain come down. Then, when it stops, it's great to walk in the fresh air with the glistening clean trees and splash in the many creeks. Usually there is fog in the morning after a rain that create God beams as the sun shines through the trees. It is also crisp and cool in the winter, but the sun is usually shining and the sky is bright and blue. The nights have many stars and the moon is wonderful to look at on a clear night. and it's so quiet at night! Mom walks me around at midnight and there are pretty lamp posts that light our way.

I love to roll around in the snow at Silent Valley Club.


I like to dig in the snow too!

One of my favorite things to happen here is snow. You know I was born in Colorado in the snow and when it snows here, it reminds me of my first home. I love to roll around in it and get snow on my nose. It doesn't snow too often and not too deep, but one time we had over 9" in one night. That was exciting. I could bury my whole head in it! If you want more snow, Dad and Mom can take me to Idyllwild, not far away, but it's another couple thousand feet higher and they usually get a lot of snow. We walk around the little town and it's a nice place to visit according to Mom.

Silent Valley club has lots of open space to play in.

Silent Valley is a wonderful place for dogs and humans too. We stay about 30 days at a time so I think of it as home in the winter. It's a nice place to rest for the traveling we will do in the early Spring.

Dad has a website with more pictures of the Silent Valley Club (see his link on this blog). If you are ever near us here, come visit. They let anyone join their club and there's plenty of room.

Arf,

Reggie