It is really a combination of good feelings and bad ones with a mixture of injury and a bear hunt.

Kind of embarrassing but here it goes...

May 8th was as mixed up as one day could possibly get. My mind was swimming with thoughts of home and spending time with my family. daydreaming was the only thing that took my mind off of my knee and foot which I injured on a downhill about two weeks earlier. The body wasn't mending well and I kept getting slower. I thought about taking some time off and going home to get the homesickness out of my system and give the leg time to heal. Injury and homesickness do strange things to people especially when you are alone most of the time. That night I camped at wash near Frozen knob about 5 miles south of Hogback Ridge Shelter, TN. That night I was visited by what sounded like a young black bear and a hunting dog. It was bizarre! These critters droned on like a circling freight train for at least two hours. First the bear came through my camp at a full gallop then the dog. It would get quiet...then the dog charged through followed by the bear! I got no rest from 10pm till past midnight. Actually I thought it was one of those crazy inner conflicts that I get when I dream about my problems. That is my slant on that!! I awoke the next morning and thought that I had in fact dreamt the incident. After about 5 minutes of hiking though, I came up on a quarter mile patch of trail that had no less that five deposits of two types of dung. One looked very much like dog and the other...well I guess that was my bear!

How this ties into the beagle? Do you believe in predestination? I am beginning to. I got to Hogback Ridge Shelter about 11am and decided to hang out for the day. I needed to get my head clear and decide my next move. The one thing that I didn't WANT to do was get off the trail, but my body wasn't healing and my leg was going to give soon. I sat and thought, had some lunch and rested. After a few hours past, some more thru-hikers rumbled into camp and they had a beagle trailing behind them. She had followed them since the day before. They had given her some water and I think some food. That was a mistake, because she was following the food supply now. She was tagged and had a phone number on her collar, but the hikers were not planning on stopping to call anyone. I thought about it for a while and said that I would take her in tomorrow. Well, next morning I started out and down 2 1/2 miles to Sam's Gap on U.S. 23. Before I got to the highway, I leashed the dog to keep her from the traffic. On our way down she tangled my legs with the leash and I came crashing down the hill. When I got up, my bad leg was just about useless. I hobbled down to a plant nursery nearby and after some intense tongue lashing about how I should have left the dog to fend for herself, I got the gentleman to take the dog when he recognized the name of the owner on the collar. I hobbled off a couple of miles down the highway until I came to a diner. I ordered two cheeseburgers all the way and drank a quart of Pepsi. Then asked about a phone to get a taxi to Asheville 25 miles away. Finally I washed my skinned and slightly bloody knee.

The cabby took me to the bus depot and 24 hours later...I was home.

I guess that the beagle was just the catalyst for my misfortune, but her crippling misstep capped any idea of getting back on the trail. I have had a hell of a good time since then. My knee finally did heal and the podiatrist did get my foot back in shape. I came out of this whole adventure with a new way of looking at things too! I have finally taken charge of some of the emotional problems that have plagued me for years. This 6-week immersion into trail life and performance under harsh conditions has taught me more about myself than I could have ever imagined. I read once that the AT would do that for people, but it doesn't always reveal what the hiker had hoped for. I found much truth in that insight...and by the way I am happy with what I discovered about myself. The rest of the summer was spent traveling and getting my body back into a healthy state. I started this adventure to clear my mind and root for fresh ideas for the second half of my life. I think that I am finally getting there. I at least know that I don't want to be a corporate worker drone in the computer industry anymore, although I love home computing. I want to go back to school and train as a physical therapist assistant. Before I start training for my new profession I want to finish the trail in 97. This time for the pure fun of it! note:[ I did become a massage therapist in 1998 instead of a PTA, and I did return to the trail in 97, but I had more trouble hiking...It turns out that I have hypothyroidism and that was the biggest reason for my injuries, cramping and slowing down. By the time I was diagnosed by my anatomy and physiology instructor in August 1998,my extremities were painfully swollen and melancholy was persistent. I'm just fine now! I do want to go back to the trail some day, but it has been five years now. Springer fever strikes every January, but I manage to fight it off...I really do hope that I can go back some day....]   kickatree 01/01

I wish to thank everyone that I met along the trail from Springer Mountain to Sam's Gap, TN for simply being there, the supporting cast of Bear in the night, and of course that little female beagle that added the finale to this great first adventure.