Or, you want me to wear what!?!
Early in our hike, the last day we were in Georgia, the weather was really cold when we lunched at PlumOrchard Gap shelter. I was concerned that Gracie's feet were getting too cold. She was already decked out in her fleece coat and wore her harness and backpack over that. After I packed up from lunch, I put Gracie's dog booties on her. She always takes a few minutes to adjust to wearing them, and initially acts like a cat with tape on its paws - lifting and shaking each paw and basically acting as if she doesn't know how to walk. I try really hard not to let her see me laugh at her, then she gets the hang of it and we move along. This time, she wouldn't budge. Wouldn't even stand up. After a few minutes of coaxing (and muffled laughter) she won. I took the booties off and she trotted along, happy as ever. I realized later that I'd crossed her maximum accessorizing threshold. No more than two items of doggie clothing. Booties and backpack, jacket and booties, jacket and backpack were all tolerable, but her doggie dignity would not allow one more item. Duly noted.
Here's a brief list of gear your hiking dog might need on the trail:
- Collar, ID tags, and leash are obvious, but I'm including them anyway. I chose a Ruff Wear 6' leash that had an adjustable loop on the person-end, which I could use to attach the leash at my waist. Not previously a fan of hands-free leash walking, this proved invaluable on the trail because it left my hands free for hiking poles (also invaluable) and provided a simple means to hitch Gracie to whatever suitable hitching posts I could find on breaks or in town, such as trees, shelters, poles, bedposts, etc.
- Doggie backpack. Don't expect your dog to carry this full time, unless you're willing to slow your pace when it's hot and shorten your hiking days while your dog gets its trail legs. Gracie only carried hers 20-30% of her time on trail. There were many days when she started with the pack in the morning, but by mid-morning, I'd removed it and strapped it onto my backpack. I was not enthusiastic about adding the extra 5-8 pounds from her pack to what I was already carrying, but her ability to enjoyably hike the trail was more important than my comfort. After repeating a few episodes of bouncing her pack ahead, and putting it back on her when we caught up to it, only to find myself strapping it to my pack yet again, I finally left it in the bounce box for good in Pennsylvania. When we got to the more challenging terrain (and cooler temps) in New Hampshire, Gracie carried the pack for the rest of the hike, often with very little weight. I carried her food; she might carry my snacks and lunch for the day, whatever trash we found along the trail, maps, and an extra 1/2 liter water bottle. Be prepared for a wide range of reactions when people see your dog wearing a pack. They run the gamut from "how cute" to "how cruel." Clearly the following photo shows that Gracie doesn't mind wearing the pack if it's not too hot, mind you. This was taken in Maine, in October.
- Cold weather clothing. I heard of one dog's hiker who'd converted a kids down jacket to a dog jacket. Ingenious, but I had neither the time nor the motivation to be so resourceful. I found Gracie a Ruff Wear water resistant fleece-lined jacket. I ended up cutting the sleeves off it because they chafed when she was wet. After using it a couple of times, it seemed like it was most effective when we hiked in the rain/cold. Gracie seemed to shiver more if she was wearing the jacket around camp. So, in camp and at breaks, I would put out the sleeping pad (and sleeping bag if it was really cold) for her. Sometimes I would wrap her in my rain shell, as shown in the first photo. Her coat worked best to keep her torso dry and clean when we hiked in the rain.
- Booties. We carried these 1800 miles before we needed them. And when we needed them, we really needed them. Many times I almost put them in the bounce box along with the backpack, but I always had second thoughts and tucked them back into my pack. I found these on the interwebs several years ago after trying several types that wouldn't stay on. These, which are from England, are made from tough cordura and have two velcro straps per bootie. They're tough and they stay on. Gracie's pace started to slow through the Whites of New Hampshire as we approached Mizpah Hut for lunch. The trail was made up of lichen-covered rocks, which must have felt like walking on sandpaper to her. I was exhausted and thought she was too, but when I checked her feet after lunch, her pads were beginning to show signs of irritation. Heeding the accessory threshold, I put the booties on her before we set off. She was wearing the pack, so I wasn't sure how she's respond, but after a few steps, she seemed to realize that with booties, she still had traction and no pain. It was like having a whole new dog, so delighted she was to have her super powers restored. Here she is on day two with booties, looking down into Carter Notch.
- Food/water bowl. Again, probably obvious. I'm all for multipurpose gear, but even as a thru-hiker, I have some standards and I was not about to share my food bowl with my dog. I used a light plastic reusable container for hers. You can see one in the top photo. We used at least three different ones on the hike. I kept dropping stuff on them and cracking or breaking them. Or leaving them in town. Duct tape was handy for patching the holes and cracks that developed. I cut a hole in the corner so I could attach the bowl to a backpack (mine or Gracie's) with a carabiner.
- Bear bell - you may think you need one of these, but trust me, you don't. We started out with one, but by day three it was tucked away in my pack, nice and quiet-like and I was no longer in danger of becoming homicidal from the incessant noise.
- Doggie bandanna or towel. When you've spent all day hiking in the rain and mud, you may not want to share a bandanna with your dog for clean up duty. It was easy enough to carry a half size bandanna that was dedicated for Gracie's use. She's also pretty fastidious on her own, so there wasn't much for me to clean up once we were ready to bed down, thank goodness.
- Tweezers. Ticks are nasty little creatures. You will pull ticks from your dog and probably yourself. Tweezers make it much easier. I used the tiny ones that came with my tiny Swiss Army knife, and shockingly, never lost them, or the knife.
Or, we've walked 20 miles today and I don't want to take another step
Getting To and From the Trail
This is one of the biggest challenges for hikers with dogs. Unless your dog is a certified therapy dog, bus and train travel are off the table, as is airline travel, unless you're willing to subject your dog to being checked as baggage. That's just not something I was willing to do to a dog that was going to walk over 2000 miles. Gracie loves a good road trip as much as I do so, I drove my car to the trailhead in Georgia and left it in long-term parking. That long-term parking is some trail magic in and of itself. For only $5 you can leave your car for the duration of your hike. I had to ask the park rangers several times because I couldn't believe it was a one time fee, not a daily rate.
I did not make advance arrangements for our departure from the trail because of the unknowns - would we make it all the way to Maine, and if so, when? Or would we need to get off the trail earlier, and if so, where? I had discussed the possibility of a ride to Bangor with the woman who would keep Gracie while I hiked Baxter State Park, and the hostel where I stayed in Millinocket offered a shuttle to Bangor, so those were possibilities. When we finished the trail in Maine, my friend Phil actually drove up from Massachusetts (bless him!) to celebrate with us and he ended up driving us to Bangor to pick up a rental car for the drive back to Georgia.
There are no car rental agencies near the Georgia trailhead, so I still had to arrange a shuttle from the Atlanta airport to Amicalola Falls State Park after I dropped off the rental. We took several days to drive back to Georgia, so I made those arrangements en route. On returning to my car, I was not terribly surprised the battery was dead. I probably should have disconnected the terminals, but it was a three year old battery when we left, and was due for replacement anyway. I was also lucky rodents hadn't taken up residence in my car as they had in another poor hiker's car. Still the park staff was very helpful. The guy I hired for the shuttle from Atlanta works at the park, and he gave me a jump start and we drove around the park to see if the battery would hold a charge. No dice, so Gracie & I camped one more night, I got another jump start in the morning, and we drove to the nearest town for a new battery, hoping I'd left enough gas in the tank to get there. Dang but that's a lot to keep track of while you're tending to a dog and you're both exhausted from months of hiking.
Shuttles
Besides getting to/from the trailhead, other places where you might encounter shuttles or public transportation include the Great Smoky Mountains; Delaware Water Gap; NY train station near Pawling, NY; Great Barrington, Dalton & Cheshire MA; and Rutland, VT. Because you won't have your dog with you in the Smokies, you can take that shuttle to Gatlinburg or Cherokee, but in all the other cases, dogs are not allowed on public transportation. Be prepared to either find a safe place to keep your dog, hitchhike, or watch your hiking buddies go enjoy town without you.
Hitchhiking
I actually planned my hike to minimize the amount of hitchhiking we'd need to do. Hiker forums provide conflicting reports on people's willingness to pick up a hiker with a dog. The few times we hitchhiked, unless we were with Willow, it took 30 minutes or more to get a ride. I wondered if perhaps I didn't "look" like a thru-hiker. Regardless, I was happy with my decision to keep hitchhiking to a minimum. There are several hostels and hiker motels that will pick you up at the nearest road crossing with advance notice, and I took advantage of that as often as possible.
Boarding/Kenneling
There are three sections of the trail where dogs are not allowed - the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (NC/TN), Bear Mountain Zoo in New York, and Baxter State Park (Mt Katahdin) in Maine. Some people choose to skip or hike around those sections. Skipping sections of the trail, any of it, was not part of my plan, so I chose to board Gracie while I completed GSMNP and BSP. There is a blue blaze alternate trail around Bear Mountain Zoo, which is considered "official trail" for hikers with dogs or hikers passing through outside of zoo hours, so we used that path. I had a good experience boarding Gracie for GSMNP and BSP.
For the Smokies, the boarder met us at Fontana Dam, brought the resupply boxes I'd had shipped to her, and then returned Gracie to me at Standing Bear Farm, at the other end of the park. Gracie was ready for some R&R, and I was ready for some time away from the relationship. I encountered some of the most challenging weather in the Smokies, and was often grateful Gracie wasn't being subjected to the hypothermia-inducing conditions. It was a real struggle to keep myself warm & dry, and I couldn't imagine how I would've taken care of her as well. The week of rest served her well. She was happy to see me again, and excited and energetic when we returned to the trail. I wanted Gracie to have a consistent diet, so she ate her usual food, which I provided, for both of her kennel stays, minus the dehydrated food, which I saved for the trail.
For Baxter, Gracie stayed with a local couple and their crew of dogs. I was a little nervous that it wasn't a kennel situation, but a phone call the next morning revealed Gracie had taken up a spot on the family sofa, so I quit worrying. As I climbed Mt. Katahdin, I was again grateful that Gracie was not with me. The climb was fairly challenging, and the summit greeted us with driving sleet, wind gusts of 50+mph, and wind chill temps below freezing. By her accounts, Gracie may have gotten the better end of the deal on that sofa!
Or, You want my dog to sleep where?
Lodging on the Trail
If you read the hiker forums for information about hiking with dogs, and if you plan to hike with a dog, I highly recommend you do so, you will discover that dogs on the trail are a polarizing topic, and a lot of it has to do with where the dog sleeps. From what I read, I anticipated that we would not spend many nights in shelters, because we'd be unwelcome. The reality was much different. I always asked my fellow hikers if they minded having a dog in the shelter. With one exception, everyone was agreeable to sharing a shelter with Gracie. That said, we began our hike late-ish in the hiking season, and rarely experienced full or crowded shelters. Still, in an effort to be respectful of shared space, I would claim a spot against a wall, if available, and tether Gracie so she wasn't free to wander around or get into others' food and belongings. For the most part, Gracie was more than happy to curl up and warm the sleeping bag once we got to camp, whether in the tent or a shelter.
Speaking of tent, I started the hike with only a tarp for our shelter - no floor (I carried a tyvek groundcloth) and no bug netting. After the first few rainy nights it was clear I'd made a poor decision in terms of comfort. Another drawback was that there was no means for me to secure Gracie in the tarp while I tended to camp chores, so that's a deduction for convenience.
Thus, we spent a majority of our nights in shelters for the first half of the hike. Partway through Virginia, my friend Jenny loaned me her tarptent (floor + bug netting) for the rest of the hike. It was palatial in comparison to the tarp and Gracie, who was crate trained, seemed quite content and secure when zipped in by herself. Our routine when we got to camp was for me to secure Gracie to a tree or post, set up the tent, then put her in it to rest while I made dinner. Often, when I would fetch her after setting up the tent, she would pull me to the tent door, so eager was she to get into her "den." For the second half of the hike, we spent more nights in the tent than in the shelters. We slept better and I appreciated the privacy and reprieve from the smells and noises of other hikers and rodents.
Gracie was always good about grooming herself on wet/rainy/muddy days, and I would wipe her down with a doggie bandanna if need be, but other than a good shake out once a week, the tent stayed pretty clean by hiker standards. Campsite selection was no different than when hiking without a dog. We often camped near shelters to enjoy the company of our trail family and access to nearby water sources and privies, but we also spent some nights away from the shelters.
The Whites
In the White Mountains, I never knew from one day to the next where we would be sleeping. No camping is allowed above treeline, and you spend most of your time hiking above treeline through the Whites. Dogs are not allowed in the Huts, which usually offer work-for-stay to thru-hikers, and for a portion of the trail, approved campsites are too far apart to reasonably hike from one to the next in a day. Through the White Mountains, we stayed at three campsites, two stealth campsites, and one Hut. I managed to work-for-stay at two Huts, one of which had us stealth camp a quarter mile from the Hut. Was making the trek to and from the Hut five times worth breakfast and dinner? It was worth a good story, at least. A better story comes from the Hut stay. Lakes of the Clouds Hut offered us space in "the dungeon" emergency shelter in the basement. However, as I was getting ready for bed after my work exchange and dinner, a skunk joined us. I notified the Hut croo, probably interrupting their game of whisky slaps, and they kindly offered us space in an empty bunkroom. One of the nicest first-class upgrades I've ever had. But don't count on that in the future.
Lodging in Town
Here's where it gets more challenging, logistically and financially. Much of the lodging options in town are small, independently owned and managed businesses that cater to the hiking community. Bunkhouses, hiker hostels, small motels. They provide whatever information you might see in a guidebook, therefore the information in guidebooks is not consistent. If a place does not explicitly indicate they welcome pets, it doesn't mean they don't, but neither does it mean they do. I made lots of phone calls during the months before we started the hike to inquire about pet policies and plan around that. If you're hiking sans canine, you can be much more cavalier about where you stay in town. Sometimes, lodging with a dog means you pay more for a private room, because they don't allow dogs in bunkrooms. It can be more challenging to find someone to split a room, as well, though once your hiker family has gelled, this is less of an issue.
The siren call of a hot shower, hot meal, clean laundry, and a warm, dry bed is hard to resist, but if you're hiking with a dog, be prepared to spend more time figuring out where you will stay, and possibly spend more money. I always looked for places where Gracie could stay with me. In Virginia, there were two places I stayed where she wasn't allowed indoors, but I felt the outdoor accommodations were reasonable. Happy Hiker Hollow in Atkins, VA turned out to be one of my favorite hostel stays on the trail. From the guidebook info, it seemed they did not allow hiker dogs, and I did not initially plan to stay there. By the time we got closer, we had spent the last several nights in the rain, I was miserable, and couldn't bear the thought of another night in the rain. After some amusing miscommunication, I learned Gracie could stay in the barn with the chickens, where she would be warm and dry. It was not my ideal arrangement, but she seemed to manage just fine, as did the chickens, and the little bit of separation was worth the opportunity to dry out.
At Bear's Den Hostel they had a dog house for hiker dogs. Since I had a bed for the night, I doubled up the sleeping pad for her, and again, she seemed to be fine and didn't notice that they misspelled "Princess Gracie". I was glad there was no rain that night.
Those were the two exceptions. Otherwise Gracie bedded down next to my bunk, or was in bed with me when we weren't camping out.
Or, Stop bugging me!
Heartworms, Fleas, & Ticks
Being from the south, it was a no brainer that I would continue Gracie's monthly heartworm preventive on the hike. For people who live in more arid climates, heartworms may not be much of an issue, but they are common in many temperate parts of the country, are insidious, and can be fatal (the heartworm preventive marketers have done a fantastic job scaring the bejeebus out of dog owners). I figured Gracie's standard vaccinations, along with regular heartworm preventive and monthly topical flea & tick treatment would be all we'd need for the trail.
Giardia
Then I remembered that we'd both had Giardia in the past. I'm pretty susceptible to it - it seems I can get it from just looking at contaminated water. Gracie is almost as sensitive. Yes, dogs can get Giardia, and it is not pretty. Also not something you want to be dealing with in the middle of the woods, miles from the nearest town, be you human or canine. A quick trip to our vet, where I explained my plans for the hike, and I had a round of Flagyl in case Gracie got the G. I also happened to have a remaining refill from my last bout with G, so I made sure that was in my bounce box. I chose to keep Gracie's meds with me from the beginning of the hike, but put mine in a box I shipped ahead of myself on the theory that if I got the G, I could manage until I got to the next town, but if Gracie got it, I wanted to treat her right away. In retrospect, I should have carried my meds as well, because we got the G at the same time, but I survived, so no harm done.
Lyme Disease and Leptospirosis
At Bobblet's Gap shelter in Virginia, we happened to meet a veterinarian out for a section hike. I got high marks from him on my care and feeding of Gracie, but he also told me about vaccinations I hadn't seen information about during my research - Lyme Disease and Leptospirosis. I wished there was a human vaccination for Lyme, but if there was one for dogs, Gracie was going to get one at our first opportunity. Ticks were starting to be a nuisance, even with the topical flea & tick preventive. The vet assured me it was ok to treat her every 21 days, instead of the usual 30 days. I think he also recommended a tick collar. Leptospirosis is another water-borne parasite, but can be fatal with a rapid onset of symptoms. The vet really put the scare in me with that one. Really, if something awful happened to Gracie on the hike, and I hadn't done everything I could to prevent it, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. So, when we got to Waynesboro, off to the vet we went for Lyme and Lepto vaccines. The Lyme vaccine required a booster in a couple of weeks, so we took care of that when we got to Boiling Springs, PA, with the help of some trail angels who gave us a ride.
Both of those experiences with vets were really great. Matter of fact, the Waynesboro vet sent vaccination reminders the following year. I also got Gracie a tick collar, and in combination with the topical preventive, she got relief from my thrice + daily tick-pulling sessions (as did I). The dosage level was a little higher than necessary - such that Gracie would have some stomach upset each time I reapplied the topical preventive. But it never lasted more than a day and I figured it was worth it for the extra protection against Lyme.
First Aid
I did not carry a canine-specific first aid supplies. Most of the things I carried for myself, such as antibiotic ointment, elastic (vet-wrap type) bandage tape, alcohol swabs, and so on would work equally well for Gracie. The one thing I added, after our challenge of finding a vet near Wind Gap, PA to treat Gracie's treat-induced stomach upset, were official trail maps and the Appalachian Pages guidebook. I was fortunate that Journey, who we hiked with through PA, NY, NJ, CT, MA, VT and NH, had trail maps. After she left the trail, I carried maps for New Hampshire, and Maine. I wanted the maps, especially as the terrain got more challenging, so I would be able to find the nearest roads if we needed to get to one in an emergency. The Appalachian Pages were the one guidebook that included contact information for vets near the trail. A must-have after I had to phone a friend back home, who used Google to help find a vet near the little roadside motel close to the trail. Again, we had an outstanding experience. The vet's office was easily 5 miles away and the receptionist, on learning we were thru-hiking, drove us to & from the vet's office. Here's a shot of Gracie on the sleeping pad, feeling a bit under the weather as we wait outside the Wind Gap motel.
The Journey of Gnatty Jan
Many guidebooks tell you that you won't need bug repellent until Kent, CT, but they are wrong! I was surprised that as far south as Georgia, we were having to fend off biting gnats. By biting, I mean blood-sucking. Ugh. For the most part, they were more of a nuisance to me than Gracie, but at times they would be all up in her ears and I hated that there wasn't much I could do about it. At our first town stop in Franklin, NC, I found some bug wipes for kids. Full strength DEET might be ok for me to use, but I felt it was too strong for Gracie, so the kids formula was a good solution. I would wipe her ears in & out when the bugs were really bad, and it worked great.
