BLAZE!

The trail has always been full of surprises. We have learned to expect the unexpected all the time. You think ‘hey, I’ll walk 20 miles’ and the next thing you know you have a beer in your hand after only going 5 miles.  Or you look at the elevation profile and think ‘hmmmm, today looks like it’s going to be a breeze’ only for all those small blips in the profile to turn into steep rocky hills. Going with the flow is pretty much the best way to cruise along the trail at ease. Never expect any day on the trail, or in fact the whole trail to turn out as one plans. So with this theme of unplanned and unexpected trail surprises we would like to introduce Blaze.

 Let’s start when Blaze was not yet named. A week ago we were crossing a gap in Pennsylvania. At this road crossing a trail angel had set up a hiker feed. When we saw the cluster of hikers huddled around the food we threw our arms up celebrating the food and drink we were about to receive.  We hustled down and were immediately greeted by a dog. We thought he was either a trail dog we had not yet met or the dog of the trail angel.  We chatted with some of the fellow hikers and learned that he had come running out of the forest an hour before we arrived.  He was scruffy, matted, dirty, and made it quite clear that he was hungry.

As each hiker left one by one we found ourselves alone at the feed with just the dog and the trail angel. We started asking him more about the dog and learned that not only were there no houses for 30 miles in either direction but that people frequently used this spot to ditch dogs. Worse yet, the trail angel showed no interest in helping the dog. As we sat and ate (sharing our food with the polite and well mannered stray) we contemplated what to do. We were going to get a dog soon after finishing the trail (though we were going to wait till we had jobs), though we did not budget to have a dog on the trail at all. 

In the end we decided we could not leave him to the elements. If he would come willingly then we would take him with us, but we would not force him along. Before we left I looked at him and said ‘Buddy, this is your choice but if I were you I would come along’. We started up the trail calling the still nameless dog and sure enough he followed.

As this dog is following us along on the trail both of us fell in love. He is young, energetic, and very affectionate. He is a great trail dog, wondering only far enough ahead to still be in sight and waiting for us to catch up with him. Our first issue of suddenly having a dog on the trail was to think of a name. It actually only took moments to think of the most appropriate name for this dog. We knew it has to represent the time and place in our lives that we found him, something AT’ish. We settled quickly on BLAZE. We follow white blazes the entire length of the trail and our new dog has a white blaze right on his chest. By the end of our first 11 miles with Blaze he had grown fond of his new name as well.

Our first week with Blaze has been great. We still have a lot to learn about caring for a dog and he still have some learning to do himself (like how to walk on a leash). We have experienced some great magic from total strangers. Some of our hiking friends (the Twins and Conner) gave us food for his first days on the trail, Bob gave us a leash and collar, Dave helped out with some vaccinations, Mountain Laurel helped us with some food, another lady in town gave us some money for the vet, and the vet have us 50lbs of food! Amazing!

He is now all vaccinated, fed, decked out in hiking gear (yes he has his own backpack), and loved.