September 15, 2019

Mom took me on the longest hike we’ve done so far! I couldn’t believe how far we walked and it made me really tired, but Mom says I need to get used to hiking lots of miles if I’m going to make it on the Appalachian Trail. There were so many cool things about this hike to mention…where do I even start? When we first got there, we went to the wrong place. We pulled up near an empty house next to some really dense woods. Two big dogs came to check me out, but I was a little intimidated by them and told them to back off. Mom told me I had to be nice to them, but I was just trying to protect her. They seemed nice, but you never know who you can trust nowadays. We tried walking through the woods there but it was really hard and there were a lot of thorns. I even fell into a mud pit and got all my legs and belly covered in mud! Eventually Mom found out that we were at the wrong place so we turned around. I guess you could say it was a good warm-up for the real thing. We returned to the car sweaty, stuck full of thorns and burs, and muddy. After a quick turnaround we found the correct road that would lead us to the trail-head.

The road to the trail-head is long and gravely. I started smelling a new smell that I couldn’t quite make out…and then I saw it! The biggest dogs I’ve ever seen in my life – they were huge with big necks! They didn’t have any fur except for on their tails and necks. And they were so big that people could ride on them. Mom said this particular dog was named Horse. There were a lot of them and they were all named Horse. I was so fascinated by them that I couldn’t sit still. I wanted so bad to play with Horse. Eventually we got to the trail-head and they were no longer hanging around, but I was able to track their scent along the trail and even found a lot of delicious-smelling treats that they left behind. Mom wouldn’t let me eat the treats because she said I’m not allowed to have treats she calls manure. I wonder why I can have some treats and not others. Unfortunately I did not get to see Horse on the rest of the trail, but I did see another dog! This one was also a lot bigger, but had regular dog fur. I was a little jealous because he was a much better climber than me and climbed so fast up all the trees. Mom said his name was Bear. I don’t know how she knows all these dogs’ names; she’s really smart like that!

During this hike we got to cross the creek a lot of times. I love splashing in water so those were my favorite parts. About halfway through, the trail became a lot more dense and there were a lot of times when you really couldn’t see the trail at all. There were many times when the plants were taller than me or I had to jump high over fallen trees, but nothing would stop me. The trail was pretty difficult to follow. I would say it’s the hardest one we have done so far – not because of the elevation or rough terrain, but simply due to the fact that we tended to lose the trail in many places. Another problem we faced were the spiders. It felt like every step we took had us barreling into another spiderweb. Mom kept screaming behind me every time she hit one. Maybe they should change the name from Chigger Branch Cascades to Spider Branch! By the time we got to the end we had to scramble up and across quite a few boulders as we traveled upstream to get to the cascades’ head. Sadly the cascades were dried up so there wasn’t much to see besides the enormous canopy of greenery that surrounded us. My paw was sore and bothering me, so we took a long break there in the woods before mustering up the energy for the long trek back home. I’ve never felt so happy to climb back into the car, and you better believe I immediately fell asleep. This one really challenged us, but I am proud of myself every time I manage to make it further and further. All this practice for the AT is exhausting but fun, and I love the sense of accomplishment I feel. I can’t wait for the next challenge! 🐾⛰