puppy dogs and little sleep

Damascus VA!!!!!

A couple of stories to note:

Story number 1) As you all know, we are out here as part of a fundraiser for the Dessin Animal Shelter (http://www.dessinshelter.com/). However, that doesn't mean that Pooch's (Laura) animal saving efforts have stopped... While in Erwin last week, we found a stray dog running about a White's Grocery Store. She is a little 7-8 month old black lab/corgi type mix, and we quickly gobbled her up after finding no owners or anyone else around that knew about her. She came back to the Hostel with us and was quickly dubbed "Erwin" after her hometown. After spending a day looking for her owners and finding none, we prepared to take little Erwin out onto the trail with us; there is no local animal shelter and we couldn't find anyone who would take her. As we were putting on our packs, just about ready to leave, an angel landed in the form of Tattoo, a friend of ours, who decided to take Erwin for himself!! After giving Tattoo some food, a collar and leash, and some pointers, the new father took her in.

Story number 2) Last weekend was a tough one; Sunday was spent hiking in sleet and rain in 50 mph driving winds on top of treeless ridges. That night, it snowed, up to six inches in places. The following day we decided to hike 24 miles, much of it in snow, to the Kincora Hiking Hostel in Hampton TN. We arrived after 12.5 hours of hiking to a very warm hostel and lots of pizza. That night, just after midnight, we recieved word of a lost hiker still up on the ridge. Tom Dooley (Ben) and another thru-hiker, Foot Pump, as well as a local hostel ownder, decided to hike back up the trail to look for the hiker. We had word that he thought he was only two miles up the trail, but had dropped his headlamp and cellphone. He had no overnight equipment with him, and had possibly broken his ankle. Pooch stayed in the hostel to keep track of things and call emergency services if needed. Forunately, after only two miles of hiking back into the woods, we found the hiker. His name was Mr. Davenport, and he was 70 years old, very crotchety, tired, hungry and thirsaty, but altogether just fine. He had only a small pen light with him, and was moving very slowly. After giving him some food and water, we accompanied him down the trail, making sure he didn't fall over ledges or into creeks. An hour later, we arrived safely back at the hostel, and went back to bed!

So as you can see, our fondness for finding homes for little lost puppies and saving lost old men never ends, no matter our location or time of day!!

Just to check up, Pete is still doing just fine, though his owner may need some fixing in the near future. Roxi is, as always, ready to go all the time, giving Pooch a real handful (and earful ;-).

Here are some pics, just for kicks, as well as a posting by Pooch that never made it onto the blog, which dates back to just before entering the Smokie Mtns.

"We are at Fontana Dam, the largest dam in the eastern United States. This marks the southern end of the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. This next 70 mile stretch (thru the park) is one of the places the dogs cannot hike with us. The kennel picked them up this morning and they will surely love their much deserved rest and relaxation. As for Ben and I, we are enjoying our time away from the 'kids'.
Some of the other people we've been going at a similar pace with are Tatoo, Zoobe, Snack Break, WireNut, Ice Man, Cowboy, Dog's Life (Pete and Roxi inspired that one), CrankBait, Boo-boo, Mingus Kahn, Tin-tin, Joseph Stallin, Rennesance Man (with canine GoJo), Not Yet, Toto & Dorothy, Will & Able, and the famous Model T. We have even spent an evening with Little Engine who is a high school graduate just finishing up his south bound trek.
There are three groups of people out here:1-Young graduates who are putting off life for a while to reflect on life.2-Those in a mid-life crisis and are trying to find themselves.3-Retirees who are having way too much fun with life.All are grand company and have rather interesting stories to tell. Perhaps the only thing we all have in common is a fascination with this trail and a taste for adventure.
That's all for now; we gatta climb the Great Smokies!!"

See ya!

"Please refrain for using cell phones on the trail..."

I am in Erwin, TN, right now, though not on a good note. Two days ago we hiked entirely in snow; absolutely amazing and wonderful, well, if you know me, you know what I think of snow :-) . Pete had to wear his booties all day of course, as there is no way he could do all those miles without them (stupid ice balls). However, at the end of the day, he started limping really bad on his right front paw. We got to the shelter and checked him out, but we just couldn't find anything wrong. Yesterday he limped on and off, and towards lunch time he started limping really bad again. We decided that I would head into town and go see the vet whlie Laura pushed on. Fortunately, If all goes to plan, Laura should hiking into town tomorrow afternoon sometime; the trail even exits the woods right next the hostel where I am staying with Pete.

This morning I took Pete out to go pee and such, and of course, he wasn't limping. We went to the vet anyway, and she told us pretty much exactly what I already knew; its can't be too serious, so just get some rest and relax for a couple of days. So we'll wait for Laura and Roxi to arrive tommorrow morning and probably take off again on Wednesday sometime. Pete is, of course, just as happy as ever, and I think he really apprciated a warm bed for a night as it had been below ten degrees the past few nights in the woods. So don't worry about your Pete, he's still doing great, but think good thoughts for him nonetheless :-)

This town is pretty funny; there are, and I quote, over 60 Baptist churches!! The town is only 8,000 people, so 60 Baptist chuches is just about one for every family! The explenation I got was that often single parishes will have internal squabbles, so one group just goes off and starts their own church (so there! take that!). Like we said, this is a cultural adventure ;-)

I am staying at Uncle Johnny's Hostel. They have been real great with me and Pete (I think they feel sympathy for Pete) and have given us our own room at a really good rate. They picked us up of the trail yesterday and gave me multiple rides into town for food, the vet, and this library trip.

The weather the past few days has, literally, blown us away. We spend one night in a blizzard, another in five whole degrees of warmth, and a day hiking wind blown snow-drifted ridges. Though beautiful, our hardest wilderness test yet. We had nearly given up on carrying our warm weather gear with us; we had spent the majority of our first month in the woods in seventy degree weather with only two days of rain. So, of course, Url greeted us with a post-winter freeze! In face, as far we could tell, we were the only hikers on the trail for two days, as others had either turned around and headed back to warmth or simply not started out at all! We're not sure if that makes us tough or stupid... you decide ;-)

Unfortunately, the Library wont let me upload pictures, so you'll have to do without for now. At any rate, thanks for reading!!

Hot Springs NC

We are out of the Smokies now, in Hot Springs NC. It took us five days to traverse the seventy plus rugged mountain miles of Smokie Maountain National Park. The weather was near perfect; if not sunny, it was always beautiful. Mountain clouds turned normally longdistance views into geourgous cloud walks. We saw more wildlife than we had seen before, whether that was because of not having dogs or simply being in a national park, we didn't know. We nearly stepped on a rattlesnake, scared some grouse (whose call, which sounds like someone trying and failing to start a lawn mower, had us befuddled for days), and gazed upon soaring eagles.

Though beautiful, we were perhaps, relieved to escape the smokies for tamer land (or so we thought). In fact, upon reciving the dogs Monday morning, we hiked into perhaps the terrain with the best vews yet on top of Max Patch. This morning we took a liesurly three mile stroll into Hot Sptings for some hot southern breakfast biscuts and gravy. The dogs are happy to back with us on the trail, we are happy to continue hiking, and the journey continues. Hoping all is well!!

-Tom, Pooch, Roxi and Pete

Out of Great Smoky Mt. National Park

Paul here. We received a phone call last night detailing their progress. They just made it out of Great Smoky Mountains National Park! Dogs were not allowed in the park, so they used a dog shuttle service (hopefully Laura and Ben will extrapolate on this) and are picking up their dogs now. Internet access has been poor and when possible very low speed they said. I'll be writing as soon as I hear any updates and hopfully can post pictures if Ben sends any through snail-mail. Latest guess as to where they are.