Date: 2012-10-15
From: America's Best Value Inn, Marion, Virginia

To: Old Orchard Shelter
Miles today: 10.2
Weather: light rain

My parents do not have cable at home as they see that as a waste of money, but my Mom sure loves the Home and Garden Network. She loves the real estate flipping shows in which everything that can go wrong does go wrong, but somehow the house usually looks good by the end and the people at least break even. There, I just told the world the plot of every real estate flipping show. Mom stayed up late into the night watching that scenario unfold several times.We had breakfast at the motel then slowly got ready. I certainly wasn't in any rush to get back on the trail, especially since it was raining hard all morning. I did my laundry and got resupplied at Food Lion. The rain began to clear by the time I was ready to get going again, so we got a large lunch from Arby's and took it along as a picnic to the Mt. Rogers Nat'l Rec. Area HQ. Once back at Dickey Gap at around 2:45 PM, my parents walked with me for a ways but then decided to let me get back to pace (I think they also had enough walking). The hike was typical up and down terrain. I saw an ATC crew working near Comer Falls -- it's kind of amazing that people take a "vacation" to go work on the AT for a week, ten days, or how ever long. The climb up Hurricane Mountain was moderate. There is a beautiful new shelter on top of the mountain. From there, it was a long, gradual descent to Fox Creek then a short, gradual climb to here.When I arrived, there were three section hikers who had a dog tied up right in front of the shelter. They repeated the mantra they must teach all dog owners, "She's harmless, she just gets excited when new people come up." Of course, as they say this, the dog is barking and snarling at me. I sat on the picnic table contemplating whether I wanted to push on, though the next shelter was too far to make before dark and the wind was already kicking ahead of a cold front. Another hiker approached the shelter, and we went through the same bark, snarl, "she's friendly" routine. A few minutes later, the AWOL page I carelessly left on the table got blown over toward the dog. The dog pawed at it, and the owners yelled at it to leave the page alone. The dog walked a few paces away from the page, but when I went to retrieve it, the dog lunged at me and nipped at my arm. Luckily, my hiking shirt prevented the dog from being able to sink its teeth into me, and I only had a scratch. Even though the owner tackled the dog off of me and was apologetic, it has made for a very awkward shelter situation. Nevertheless, we are making it work. I will say, to any dog owners out there, think twice about bringing your dog on the trail, especially if it is not an extremely personable dog (and I mean toward other hikers, not to you. If the dog isn't personable toward you, the owner, you need a new dog!). And, if you do bring a dog, even a friendly dog, keep it away from other hikers and places where it can anticipated that other hikes will go. Even though I have met some great dogs, I have come to the opinion that non-service dogs should be banned from the AT simply because of the threat to other hikers.