November 5th
Miles ~14
Total 1993
Did we say something about walking 20 miles today? Right. So that clearly didn't happen. Today was a super hard walk. We started in the middle of a huge climb up to 5000 feet and then we dropped back down just to climb up again. It really felt like we were walking uphill all day. Unbelievable. We were so exhausted that we decided to stop at this shelter but it was great that we did because our friends Starfish and Sherpa are here too and it's always nice to camp with friends.
So, last night at our camp spot we could hear dogs barking all through the night. We could still here them today and so we assumed they were out with hunters. But then we realize we weren't really clear how hunting with dogs works. Do the dogs take down the bear? That seemed ridiculous. Do the dogs herd the bear back to their owner? Seems difficult. We were speculating up a storm when, lo and behold, a hunter came down the trail looking intently at a screen attached to a walkie-talkie looking device with a huge antenna. Desperately needing an answer to our question, we asked him if he had time to explain this to us. We started the conversation by asking him if he was running dogs. His first question to us was "Did you hear them? Are they barking?" Apparently his GPS had a momentary lapse and while he knew he was in the right direction he wanted to be sure.
He explained that they dogs track the bear and he tracks the dogs via the GPS. They all GPS collar so he can find them. It updates every 30 seconds so he can see if the dogs are running, walking or lounging around. He told us his dogs were running all night (we could have told him that too) and that he's pretty close to them now. He runs mostly Walkers and Ports. We have no idea what those are, but will look up the breeds as soon as we can.
Anyway, it was fascinating to talk to him. He runs with his dad and brother so between the three of them they can get three bear in a year. He said they already got one. It was about 200lbs but that it had so much fat on it's back-about 4 inches he said-that it was easy for the dogs. He said the bear was too fat to even run. Funny image.
We were happy to run into him and get our questions answered and we were happy he wanted a break from the climb up that he was willing to talk to us.
P.s. Election Day tomorrow!
Miles ~14
Total 1993
Did we say something about walking 20 miles today? Right. So that clearly didn't happen. Today was a super hard walk. We started in the middle of a huge climb up to 5000 feet and then we dropped back down just to climb up again. It really felt like we were walking uphill all day. Unbelievable. We were so exhausted that we decided to stop at this shelter but it was great that we did because our friends Starfish and Sherpa are here too and it's always nice to camp with friends.
So, last night at our camp spot we could hear dogs barking all through the night. We could still here them today and so we assumed they were out with hunters. But then we realize we weren't really clear how hunting with dogs works. Do the dogs take down the bear? That seemed ridiculous. Do the dogs herd the bear back to their owner? Seems difficult. We were speculating up a storm when, lo and behold, a hunter came down the trail looking intently at a screen attached to a walkie-talkie looking device with a huge antenna. Desperately needing an answer to our question, we asked him if he had time to explain this to us. We started the conversation by asking him if he was running dogs. His first question to us was "Did you hear them? Are they barking?" Apparently his GPS had a momentary lapse and while he knew he was in the right direction he wanted to be sure.
He explained that they dogs track the bear and he tracks the dogs via the GPS. They all GPS collar so he can find them. It updates every 30 seconds so he can see if the dogs are running, walking or lounging around. He told us his dogs were running all night (we could have told him that too) and that he's pretty close to them now. He runs mostly Walkers and Ports. We have no idea what those are, but will look up the breeds as soon as we can.
Anyway, it was fascinating to talk to him. He runs with his dad and brother so between the three of them they can get three bear in a year. He said they already got one. It was about 200lbs but that it had so much fat on it's back-about 4 inches he said-that it was easy for the dogs. He said the bear was too fat to even run. Funny image.
We were happy to run into him and get our questions answered and we were happy he wanted a break from the climb up that he was willing to talk to us.
P.s. Election Day tomorrow!
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| view from some firetower on a mountain that I can't remember the name to |
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| YOU'RE ON THE A!T! |
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| View |
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| Tenting at Wayah Bald Shelter |
We have a Walker Treeing Coonhound, which is most likely the "Walkers" to which he referred. Alternatively, it may have been zombie dogs, as zombies on Walking Dead are routinely referred to as "Walkers." 50/50.
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