Date: 2004-04-28
From: Siler Bald Shelter

To: Dog Day 
Miles today: 17.9

After a cold and near sleepless night, I broke camp at 7:00 a.m. and strolled by the shelter. I looked inside, where most of the people were still asleep inside their sleeping bags. The bags extended across the floor in an evenly spaced formation, with everyone's heads facing the back wall. But on the far right of the floor, the symmetry of the scene was broken by a large sized Disney character¢I think it was The Little Mermaid¢ printed on the children's blanket covering Spur. The trail led me to Siles Bald, a mountain summit covered by a grassy expanse, or "bald," which resembles a pasture. The trail passes by several of these balds. I am told that nobody knows for sure why they exist. Later in the morning, I ran into a hiker just as he was breaking camp. He was a middle aged man name Dennis who was hiking on the AT for several days with his dog, a Boston Terrier name Mickey. I fell into step behind them.Mickey the dog followed closely behind his master's heels, so close that whenever one of Dennis' heels lifted in the rhythm of movement, the dog would angle over to the back of the other heel. The dog would zig zag from heal to heel with each one of Dennis' steps. It was almost hypnotic to watch.Dennis told me that he often hikes this time of year on the southern AT because there are many long distance hikers passing through. He enjoys camping at shelters and meeting different people each night.He told me about reading a newspaper article featuring Neels Gap in Georgia; a place where aspiring AT hikers shed their excess equipment after their initial exposures to the rigors of the trail: I had done the same. A couple arrived at The Gap after hiking for a few days with scuba diving gear. Incredible as it sounds, they had intended to go diving in the streams of the Appalachian Mountains. I can only imagine the trail names they were given. How about Aqualung? Or Tank? Or Bubbles?After eating lunch with Dennis, I hiked a long stretch of the trail without encountering a single person. During this stretch, I debated whether or not to hike extra hard, and cover longer distances, in an effort to catch up with the people I have become the friendliest with. Or, I wondered, should I hike at a comfortable pace and enjoy meeting new hikers at the shelters that I camp near.During my deliberation, I recalled the remark by the hiker Dennis, who said he enjoyed meeting new people at the shelters. His comment swayed me to thinking that my best approach is to hike at my own pace and enjoy the company of whomever I meet.I had intended to stop hiking at a shelter at Cold Springs but the site seemed unattractive. There were no flat spots on the ground for me to sleep. An outhouse was uncomfortably close to the shelter. Inside the small shelter, a hiker was relaxing with his boots and socks removed. His feet smelled real bad and the stench was permeating the whole place. I left a note in the register-a spiral notebook-to KTR, informing him that I was going to push on. On the same page, I taped a small, metallic, spare part for an external frame backpack. I had found the spare part lying beside the trail. I wrote note requesting that someone give the part to Spur.And then I resumed hiking, with the intention of finding some flat terrain where I could stop and make camp.I hiked for several miles, unable to locate flat ground. The trail was passing across high, tree covered ridges or winding across steep slopes. Beds of tiny blue flowers adorned the edge of the trail, attracting the attention bumble bees. I wanted to stop and take a photo of this natural beauty, but did not. I was anxious to make camp because the day was growing late.Near the summit of Wesser Bald (4,630 feet), the AT intersected with another trail. I looked down the other path and could not believe what I was looking at. A pit bull terrier, a species of dog known for aggression, was charging toward me. I noticed a nearby boulder and stepped up on it. The boulder was small and without steep sides. Clearly, the dog could have easily ascended the boulder. Instead, it stopped running and paced back and forth at the base of the boulder. The owner of the dog¢apparently a local person out for a day hike with a female companion¢came running down the trail and grabbed the animal's collar strap. He took the dog back to a nearby observation tower on the top of the mountain.I shouted to the man, "You got a leash for that dog? Moments later, his companion up in the tower dropped the leash to the ground where the dog and his master were standing.A short ways up the trail, I reached the Wesser Bald Shelter (at 4,115 feet) where I strung up the tee-pee tarp. A woman whose trail name is Inchworm arrived at the shelter. I had previously become acquainted with her. The next arrivals were the twenty-something year old hikers from last night at Siler Bald Shelter. They told me that when they last saw Spur, he was foraging for wild mushrooms to eat. He is not hurting for food because he is carrying store bought foods.I hiked approximately 18 miles today, although it had not been my intention to go that far. To have traveled such a distance is encouraging, but it is not something that I would like to do regularly.The temperature feels cold, but nothing like last night's big chill. Maybe I'll sleep better tonight.