Appalachian Trail Day 62 – Little Irish Creek – North Fork of Piney River

Appalachian Trail Day 62

Day 62, 04-30-01

18.3 miles, AT  –  799.1  – 3,000 feet ±

Little Irish Creek – North Fork of Piney River

7:30 AM 5:20 PM, 75-80°

I got cold around 3 AM last night.  Plus I wasn’t on flat ground.  I was falling to the left and sliding downhill.  All in all it wasn’t too bad.  It was really chilly for the first part of the hike.

The fire last night was good.  I finished my book by it.

I missed a group of deer in the first mile.  We passed a small dam at Pedlar Lake.  It was really neat to watch the waterfall down the face of the dam.  After that the trail swirled around the lake, then up a creek.  We stopped at Brown Mountain Creek Shelter, where they had cut a bunch of hemlocks down that were diseased.

Along Brown Mountain Creek back in the early 1900s a small group of freed slaves had a community there.  A stone wall ran along the creek for over a mile.  Signs said they grew corn, tobacco and wheat.  Further along you could see foundations and a couple of chimneys.

After crossing US 60, a Trail Angel named Special Agent (Section hiked ME-NJ 99, GA-NJ 00) left a 12 pack of Mountain Dew.  The climb up Bald Knob was long and very warm.  On the way up I passed an older gentlemen dragging a 10×4 foot cross made of 2x4s.  He had on pins, hat, and shirt all saying things like Jesus lives, Jesus loves you.  It was quite the sight while climbing up a 4,050 foot mountain.

Also further up I looked up and there were three dogs up the trail.  Two came up to me but the third was shy.  I patted them and they proceeded to follow me.  I assumed their master was up ahead.  After a half hour two dogs took off, then the third.  At lunch they all came back.  Brown, as I called him, looked thirsty so I gave him water.  Brown and the other two followed us all he way to Cold Mountain where the other two took off East.  Brown stayed with us.  Brown followed us the whole 9.3 miles to camp and is now sleeping in a pile of leaves.  We didn’t feed him any food but he looks hungry.  Tomorrow we will call his owner.

The thing that pissed me off was at US 246 two county workers in a Blazer came along and I waved them down.  We told them the story of Brown and the other two dogs and they just said We work in the other county.  We have a leash law.  After some small talk, the arrogant ass_ _ _ _ put the truck in reverse and said see ya’ll later.  They just left and drove up the mountain.  I was so mad!  Now poor Brown has to follows us another 6 miles.

Brown is a great dog.  He just follows you at your heels.  I feel so bad for him.  I will feel a lot better once we call his owner.

I just watched a bird take a bath.  What a fun scene.

Scatman 2011-  Brown as I called him was a great dog.  He did look like he was under feed and could put some weight on.  I was tempted to say something to the owner when they arrived to pick him up but didn’t.  Though it was a burden to have an unwanted dog to look out for, for a day and a half, it made me feel good to know I got him home safe.

The guys in the Blazer are probably just two of 5 people on any of my hikes who didn’t offer to help.  You get so used to people actually helping you out that you are shocked when they don’t.  It’s a taste of what the “real” world is like.

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Scatman

Get out there!