Long-Distance Hiking with a Dog - Part 6: Logistics

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!