On December 20-North Carolina!

From Bly Gap/ the state line to Deep Gap/ USFS 71 in North Carolina
Miles: 6.8

The sun rises here at about 7:37 am, but you can see well enough to walk without a headlamp by about 7:15 am.  The sun sets at 5:25 pm, but you don't have to turn on your headlamp to hike or make camp until about 6:00 pm.  At 5:30 this morning I could hear the wind and storm gathering and decided to get up and pack my tent before the rain came, so that I could put it away dry, even if it was still dark.  With my new dog I took down the tent, packed everything up and started hiking.  I hiked about an hour with the headlamp before it was light enough to see.

After four miles I reached a shelter, the dog still following me.  The wind and clouds were gathering ever darker, but it wasn't raining yet.  I ducked into the shelter to eat a Cliff bar and study the map.  There I met a SoBo named Glacier.  I told him about the dog that followed me up to the shelter, and another dog wearing the same type of collar and even skinnier came out from under the shelter to greet me.  Glacier said it had been in the shelter when he arrived there after dark last night, and slept underneath the shelter.  He had fed it a few pieces of beef jerky because it looked like it was starving.  It was true that I could see the dog's ribs.  Glacier told me he believed the dogs were bear hunting dogs and the collars had a way of giving radio signals back to the owners.

I debated riding out the storm in the shelter, but Glacier told me that the temperature was expected to drop to 19 degrees tonight with very high winds.  He recommended that I go into town and get a hotel room.  So I sent a text to Gene and he agreed to come pick me up at noon and take me into Hiawasee.  I kept hiking.  About an hour after leaving the shelter the dog ran up a hillside; I guess chasing a scent, I don't know.  I did not see him again.  It began to rain as soon as I left the shelter, and the wind was strong enough to be bringing down limbs.  I was glad that I was headed indoors.  By the time I reached the road at 11:20 am Gene was there waiting for me.  When I reached the hotel, soaking wet, my teeth were chattering despite Gene's heated leather seats.  I checked in, grateful to have the financial resources to buy myself a dry and warm place to sleep for tonight.

The rest of the day was an uneventful rain day spent in Hiawasee, GA.  I did laundry, ate at an All-You-Can-Eat Diner with Terrible food, read a book, and watched TV.

Storm clouds gathering as the sun rises.

The sunrise under the cloud bank behind the trees.

My traveling companion-the bear dog.