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Note: In this installment, Trudy, the Miniature Schnauzer, reports on her traverse of the AT in Pennsylvania in early 2002.

Pennsylvania Journal

Snow, glorious snow. We didn't get a whole lot of it in PA, but what we did get caused me some major problems at first. My hair was super-long when we started hiking at the Delaware Water Gap and there were 10 inches of snow on the ground. I had a blast for about half an hour bounding through the white fluffiness, but pretty soon my legs were totally encrusted with huge balls of snow. Momma started to panic and shouted at Daddy that it was cruel to make me stay out there. He calmed her down and she realized that what needed to happen immediately was to get me warm and dry. So they heated up their heater meals and used the hot pads to melt the snow off me. Momma wrapped me in the silver emergency blanket and then got in her sleeping bag with me. After I warmed up, she put me in the pet pouch, zipped me into her jacket and started hiking. After awhile her body heat had dried me off and I was ready to hike again. 

Now I faced another challenge: Wolf Rocks. Momma had to pick me up a few times so I could get over some of the bigger boulders. Then she fell up to her waist in snow in a crack between two rocks. She realized that using a long stick to sound the depth of the drifts would be prudent, and so we started off again, cautiously, with Momma and Daddy keeping a careful eye on the white blazes painted on trees that mark the trail. Once we were off the rocks, the trail became a woods road and my parents plowed the snow with their feet so that it would be easier for me to walk. This worked for a few minutes and then I was a canine snowball again. So Momma got out her scissors and just cut all the snow off me. That made my life much better for a while, until the snow and cold got the better of me and I stopped walking. This time Daddy wore the pet pouch, with me facing his belly so I could get even more body heat from him, and that's where I stayed for the rest of the day. It was only five miles from the Water Gap to Kirkridge Shelter, where we camped for the night, but it seemed like forever. As soon as Daddy got the tent set up inside the shelter, Momma threw her sleeping pad and bag in the tent. Momma and I snuggled into her bag and hibernated until the next morning. It was so cold, my water dish froze and Momma had to keep her water bottle in the sleeping bag so we would have something to drink. I was depressed: Having to be carried hurt my pride, and I just didn't see how I was going to deal with all that snow.

The next morning, though, I was totally energized. I guess the snow kind of traumatized me at first (I'm a Georgia girl and I had never seen that much of it at once before), but I decided I was going to show Pennsylvania what the other states we have hiked on the Trail know: I might be small, but I'm no toy! I walked the whole 10 miles to Wind Gap, where we stayed in a nice warm motel. Momma evened up my hair with the scissors and praised me over and over for being such a brave girl. That made me feel great. I was excited to get back on the trail to smell the animal prints, chase snowballs and jump the rocks. The weather was great, and quite mild, most of the time from there on out and the snow froze hard enough so that I could walk on top of it. I had to stop and wait for my folks all the time though because they weigh a lot more than me and broke through the snow with each step.

Now, the rocks of Pennsylvania are legendary. They are all different sizes and the ones I found most enjoyable were the boulders. But we didn't come across boulder fields as often as you would think. Much of the trail was a flat walk on logging roads atop a long, long ridge broken up by steep gaps where rivers carved through the mountain a really long time ago. One of these gaps was called Lehigh and it is the hardest--but most fun--thing in PA, with its jagged jumble of giant rocks! The day we did it was really, really windy and we practically got blown off the mountain. The area is an EPA Superfund site, a moonscape caused by zinc-smelting pollution that killed all the trees over the last century. Although it is a scene of environmental ruin, Lehigh Gap reminded me of Maine and New Hampshire. It was great to be able to see so much sky and get an open, exhilarating feeling that is rare in the dense forests of PA.

My journal would not be complete without the various compatriots I met on the trail. First there were Gator and Tank, a black Doberman and a red Dobie at the home of trail angels John Stempa and Linda Gellock near Smith Gap. Tank was imposing but standoffish; Gator, though smaller, was just the opposite. Until then, I had never met a dog that barked more than I do (especially when I meet another dog, or see cows like we did in the Cumberland Valley. I am Schnauzer, hear me bark!) And Gator's bark was a
real, eardrum-bruising woof--the kind that scares away intruders--not a yap like mine. The whole time I was there, he was right in my face. I knew I was outmatched, but I never let on. I wouldn't back down to him so there was a lot of ruckus. He just wanted to be my friend, but he had his street cred to think about, I guess.

At our friend Christine Wilson's house I got to meet a dog, three cats, a bird and a snake. I was in heaven! One of the cats, Mr. Bigglesworth, was really curious about me. He probably was confused because I was smaller than him, but was obviously not a cat. Everything was fine as long as he held still and we just looked at each other. Then he started moving in that quick gliding way that drives dogs crazy and I did what I am genetically programmed to do: I chased him. It looked like a scene from "The Matrix" with us circling each other in mid air! When trail angels Dave and Dolores Kistler took us in, they probably thought I would defer to their magnificent red Doberman, Lady. Instead, I took all of her toys--even her Nylabone, a product I normally detest but was all too happy to feign interest in so she would be jealous. In retalitation, Lady cuddled up to Daddy, and I went  berserk. She had me all figured out: I cannot stand it if my parents pay attention to any animal but me! 

I usually only meet BIG dogs on the A.T., but one day I encountered not one but TWO fellow members of the Little (dog) League. The first was Gryphon, a
scruffy terrier mix who looked like Benji. He was even more agile on the boulders than me, and he bounced up Bear Rocks like it was nothing. Then I ran into Franky, who was as tiny as his owner was large. Franky looked like a dog made by committee: His face resembled a Yorkie, but from the back he looked like a Pomeranian, complete with a big fluffy tail. I chased him up and down the trail but I couldn't catch him. Maybe that's because I had already walked ten miles that day. I wasn't too tired to try, though. I never am!

My moment of triumph came the day we had to ford a swollen stream near Swatara Gap. Momma wanted to carry me across but daddy thought it was too risky for her to try to balance on the logs and hold me at the same time. So, when she got across, he told her to set up the camcorder on something stable and "roll camera." Then he threw me across the stream to Momma! We only had one "take" to do it in, and it wasn't perfect, but I made it! I flew high in the air, landed on Momma and knocked her over, shook myself off, and trotted on up the trail like I was a stunt dog in Hollywood. Maybe I've found my calling.

--Trudy the Trail Terrier
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