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Hiking
the Appalachian Trail
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Fourth
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You might get a kick of this one. On May 1, yesterday, I woke up a the Little Wolf Creek shelter with a little beagle looking coon hound staring at me. He was really pathetic looking. Of course being the sucker I am, I gave him some of the beef jerky that I had and of course he is going to follow me.
So we began our venture and it was an adventure! We did 22 miles. Our first adventure was when we came across some wild goats that looked like Billy goats. They were 3 - 4 feet tall and about 60 to 90 pounds. We are coming up this mountain and it is just big slabs of rocks. We come around this corner and this mountain goat approaches us and the little dog goes up to the mountain goat. Thinking that I would get a cool picture of this, as I pull the camera out, I'm not sure if I got a picture of it or not, but this goat bucks the dog. So... the dog runs behind me. The goat approaches me and I am like "Oh my gosh - here we go - I'm about to get thrown off this mountain by a goat" As I am backing up and yelling at this goat, I am aware of where I am, and I am about 5 feet from the edge of the mountain. I put my walking staff up to his neck. I was pumped up and scared at the same time. Of course the dog was such a wuss he could not even bark or whimper. I had to poke the goat to get him to quit approaching us. He finally turned away and let us pass.
It was funny - - I do not know what made me think of this but I realized that I had started singing the Dukes of Hazard song. So I called the dog Beau. Because I thought the character Beau in the show was a pretty boy, just as the dog was.
So we get through that run in with the goat and we continue our walk through the woods. Then we run into a 4 - 5 foot long black snake. Probably 2 1/1 inches in diameter. Big old black snake. I hate snakes. They scare the crap out of me. Of course what does the dog do... he rolls over. I pull the dog away and then the snake just slithers off. So far this has been a very exciting day!
We are again off on our adventure when I see my first ever-live Black Bear. It was probably only 100 -150 pounds. I came around a corner and about 30 yards away, there he was. He scared the crap out of me and I think since I looked pretty burly also, I scared him. So the bear runs off and Beau continues to follow me the entire day. I try to do my best to feed him some granola bars but I did not have much food. The next morning the dog got up and he could barely walk. I guess 22 miles was a big day for him. It was funny; he walked like the rest of the hikers, how they stumble around in the mornings.
Anyway, well -- after the goat, the snake and the black bear, all these things in one day. By the way I am staying at Catawba. I am staying at a place called the Down Home Bed and Breakfast. And it is really nice. I am sitting here in a towel robe with a bowl full of fruit. 20 miles a day for a week straight really takes its toll on you. So anyway, as we are coming out of the mountain over Dragons Tooth and I can't believe he made it down. Anyway this dog is following me and along comes a guy and a girl. So I am like OK dog - here is your chance. Of course as soon as the girl sees the puppy, she was like "oooh - you have a puppy". So I say, "yeah, you want him"? And I tell them the story about how he had followed me. I think they were both students from Blacksburg, VA Tech or something. They said that they would take him to a shelter. Hopefully the dog will find a good home. People in the south don't seem to believe in neutering. The dog and me had a good adventure. I saved his butt a couple of times.
I am still planning of being home on the 15th or 16th for the Shepherd College graduation. If I can keep the miles up! Talk to you soon!
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