After spending last Friday hiking a loop from the Caribou Pond Road S on the AT to Sugarloaf, Spaulding, and continuing to the Abraham Side Trail where.
I turned right (West) and looped around, descending to the CPR and out. With one mis-direction, 16 miles.
Yesterday, Wednesday Aug 29th I decided to return to the CPR and this time hike the Crockers and maybe try the path down to Redington with a walk out via logging roads and the CPR. Just before leaving the house ny old Yellow Lab gave me one of his "me too" looks. Considering that he did well on last Monday's Abraham from Rapid Stream road I consented.
We made quick time to the Crocker Cirque, who doesn't? Then the steeps began with two nice talus fields to traverse. Arriving at South Crocker's summit we took a snack break and made a brief foray out on the herd path to Redington. Looked very well trod, maybe we would give it a try.
We left SC and headed to North Crocker arriving pretty quickly. Emerson (my dog) was off leash for the entire hike so far. He would get ahead a bit, then stop to make sure I was coming, then proceed. At the summit of NC we met a couple of interesting people and chatted a bit.
Now I need to explain that Emerson is not a pure bred Lab. He is half tracking hound from Tennesse, a senior rescue. We're both seniors I just haven't been rescued yet. His only claim to fame is a hike with MEB last winter. But I digress.
Over the few months I have owned him I have discovered that he seems to be able to follow my spoor (scent?) for several days after I do a bushwhack without him.
When we headed back from N to S Crocker, he started out ahead and stayed that way. On top of SC he was gone. I passed two hikers who said that he had hooked up with some thru-hikers and was moving fast down the mountain.
At CPR, his big paw prints were found across the river in a mud hole. It was now around 3 PM and I was not about to climb up that ridge to Sugarloaf again.
As luck would have it I met up with a woman who was waiting for her son at the CPR crossing. She got on her cell phone and, sure enough he had passed the hikers with my big Yellow dog on the other side of Spaulding, heading for the shelter. He said that the thru-hiker was concerned that it was getting late and no owner was to be found. He was going to take the dog to the shelter and see if some NOBO hikers whould take him back to CPR with them in the morning.
At that point I decided to go home (1 hour) and return before daylight with my mountainbike and pedal into the CPR junction, leave the bike and bushwhack to the shelter using directions from this site.
At 5:30 AM I was peddling my way up CPR. At 7:15 AM I was at the Spaulding shelter, and yikes, no dog. Two southbounders told me that the hikers with my dog decided to start hiking that evening and camp on the trail and not stay at the shelter since there were no Northbounders there.
I immediately got my 72 year old body into motion and headed north over Spaulding, past sugarloaf and heading to CPR. Old Em's Paw prints were visible in almost every mud hole. Every hiker I passed asked me if I was the guy with the lost dog. That felt good even though I was a whole night behind them.
Well, I made up considerable time, and caught up with my dog and the thru-hiking trail Angel right in the middle of the Cabibou Pond Road and 10:30 AM I arrived 22 minutes behind them.
Right now Emerson is sleeping on the floor behind me.
It has occurred to me that since I had been up the AT SOBO three days before, he might have been following my scent as an added incentive to hike with strangers.
Lesson learned: Keep him on the stupid leash.
I turned right (West) and looped around, descending to the CPR and out. With one mis-direction, 16 miles.
Yesterday, Wednesday Aug 29th I decided to return to the CPR and this time hike the Crockers and maybe try the path down to Redington with a walk out via logging roads and the CPR. Just before leaving the house ny old Yellow Lab gave me one of his "me too" looks. Considering that he did well on last Monday's Abraham from Rapid Stream road I consented.
We made quick time to the Crocker Cirque, who doesn't? Then the steeps began with two nice talus fields to traverse. Arriving at South Crocker's summit we took a snack break and made a brief foray out on the herd path to Redington. Looked very well trod, maybe we would give it a try.
We left SC and headed to North Crocker arriving pretty quickly. Emerson (my dog) was off leash for the entire hike so far. He would get ahead a bit, then stop to make sure I was coming, then proceed. At the summit of NC we met a couple of interesting people and chatted a bit.
Now I need to explain that Emerson is not a pure bred Lab. He is half tracking hound from Tennesse, a senior rescue. We're both seniors I just haven't been rescued yet. His only claim to fame is a hike with MEB last winter. But I digress.
Over the few months I have owned him I have discovered that he seems to be able to follow my spoor (scent?) for several days after I do a bushwhack without him.
When we headed back from N to S Crocker, he started out ahead and stayed that way. On top of SC he was gone. I passed two hikers who said that he had hooked up with some thru-hikers and was moving fast down the mountain.
At CPR, his big paw prints were found across the river in a mud hole. It was now around 3 PM and I was not about to climb up that ridge to Sugarloaf again.
As luck would have it I met up with a woman who was waiting for her son at the CPR crossing. She got on her cell phone and, sure enough he had passed the hikers with my big Yellow dog on the other side of Spaulding, heading for the shelter. He said that the thru-hiker was concerned that it was getting late and no owner was to be found. He was going to take the dog to the shelter and see if some NOBO hikers whould take him back to CPR with them in the morning.
At that point I decided to go home (1 hour) and return before daylight with my mountainbike and pedal into the CPR junction, leave the bike and bushwhack to the shelter using directions from this site.
At 5:30 AM I was peddling my way up CPR. At 7:15 AM I was at the Spaulding shelter, and yikes, no dog. Two southbounders told me that the hikers with my dog decided to start hiking that evening and camp on the trail and not stay at the shelter since there were no Northbounders there.
I immediately got my 72 year old body into motion and headed north over Spaulding, past sugarloaf and heading to CPR. Old Em's Paw prints were visible in almost every mud hole. Every hiker I passed asked me if I was the guy with the lost dog. That felt good even though I was a whole night behind them.
Well, I made up considerable time, and caught up with my dog and the thru-hiking trail Angel right in the middle of the Cabibou Pond Road and 10:30 AM I arrived 22 minutes behind them.
Right now Emerson is sleeping on the floor behind me.
It has occurred to me that since I had been up the AT SOBO three days before, he might have been following my scent as an added incentive to hike with strangers.
Lesson learned: Keep him on the stupid leash.
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I will never forget the day Lauky broke loose and took off after a couple with a dog who had left the trailhead an hour before us. Three and a half hours later I got him back on top of Mt. Madison. He had caught up with the couple and dog and they waited on top until I arrived. 
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