Sam's BIG Adventure

November 9, 2008

Please meet Sam (short for Samantha).

Sam was estimated by our veterinarian who examined her in February 2001 to have been born in August 2000.  She was discarded by person or persons unknown and was rescued by Sabine, a friend of a friend, in October 2000.  Sabine was walking her other dogs on a road near her home in a semi-rural sub-division near Gainesville, GA when she heard a truck make a quick stop and drive off.  Sam and another dog had been thrown from the truck.  Sabine already had more dogs than she could reasonably care for, and she put Sam up for adoption.  I named her Samantha after adoption fully intending to call her Sam (most of the time).  When Sam was adopted in early February, 2001, she was slightly lame from being thrown from the truck, but she was recovered fully after another month or two.  She adapted to her new home and family in Athens very quickly.  Our veterinarian guessed that she had spaniel and Labrador retriever characteristics.  Since reaching maturity, Sam has consistently weighed within a pound on two of 50 pounds.  She has a well proportioned, solid body, and a gentle temperament with children, including infants, and I have never seen her act aggressively towards any human.  She seems never to meet a dog or human that she does not want to be friendly with, but she stands her ground if another dog is aggressive.

Part 1: Setting for the Adventure

To combine exercise with being outdoors, in January 2008 I resumed day hiking, something I had done avidly in the mid-1980s.  I usually take Sam with me, as I did on November 9, 2008, when we had our greatest adventure.  I chose to do a two-mile, roundtrip on part of the James E. Edmonds Trail within the confines of Black Rock Mountain State Park which is advertised as Georgia's highest state park.  At its summit, Black Rock Mountain is 3,640 feet and it has three miles of ridgeline on the continental divide.  Here is a photo of Sam at the summit from a hike on another trail in January 2008.

Water from the ridgeline's north slope ends up, theoretically, in the Gulf of Mexico and from its south slope in the Atlantic Ocean.  The Park includes 1,500 acres and two main hiking trails as well as a gentle trail of 0.8 miles around Black Rock Lake.  The Edmonds Trail is the longest in the Park (7.2 miles) and includes a loop consisting of an East Fork and a West Fork.  Along the trail are four back-packers-only campsites, including Creek Ridge Site #4 which figures significantly in Sam's BIG  adventure.

Using the map below, we began where the West Fork (not labeled) crosses Taylor's Chapel Road near the center of the map and just east of the east end of Black Rock Lake (see label for Black Rock Lake Trail that encircles the lake).  The best identifier on this map for the part of the trail that we hiked is Camp Ridge Site 4 seen just below the lake and about mid-way between Taylor's Chapel Road and North Germany Mountain Road (see label just to the left of PARK GATE). 

The James E. Edmonds Trail is described as being "moderate to strenuous," and is its elevation change profile is shown below.   Using this profile, the trailhead is at the top right, and as the trail is a loop, it ends back at the trailhead portrayed also at the top left.  Because the elevation change scale labeled in the brochure made no sense (to me, anyway), it was deleted from the profile copy below.  Perhaps the easiest elevation reference for present purposes is that Black Rock Lake, the lowest point on the profile map, has an elevation of 2,241 feet above sea level, and Lookoff Mountain, the highest peak near the middle of the profile map, has an elevation of 3,162.  As you may see, the profile is "cut off" (flat) at the top left and top right which means the trailhead is higher in elevation (probably between 3400-3500 feet) than the profile shows . 

Still referring to the profile, our hike began at the Black Rock Lake parking lot and ascended to the right. I think that the slight tendency of the profile to flatten about halfway up may be a slight plateau that includes North Germany Mountain Road.   If so, we hiked from the lake to that plateau, which appears to involve a climb of about 500 feet.  Upon reaching NGM Road, we went back, a roundtrip of about two miles.

Part 2: The Adventure Begins

If one parks in the lot at the east end of Black Rock Lake, you can walk about 100 yards up Taylor's Chapel Road to the James Edmond trail crossing...when I say "up", I do mean UP.  That part alone will increase your heart and respiration rates. 

When you turn right off Taylor's Chapel Road and enter this part of the Edmonds Trail, within 20 yards it feels like you are already deep into the woods.  There is a brief descent until you cross Taylor Creek, and then it is mostly up-mountain for a mile, until you reach North Germany Mountain Road, our destination.  Upon reaching it, we would reverse course and return to the truck at Black Rock Lake.  Of course, going back is mostly down-mountain.  Not too strenuous, but a nice bit of exercise for an aging man and his aging dog. 

After we were well clear of the Taylor's Chapel Road, I took Sam off leash.  Doing so is against Park rules, but this trail is rarely used this time of year, and in fact, we saw not one single person on the hike.  Sam usually responds well to voice command, and I use a police whistle at times, to which she has responded well.  I mostly use the whistle when she goes too far astray, but nearby Sam is usually responsive to gentle "suggestions" such as "whoa" and "come."

The trail is a narrow footpath generally along the side of moderately steep slopes.  For about the first quarter mile, after you have ascended about 100 feet, and with the foliage disappearing for the Winter,  the 17-acre Black Rock Lake can be seen below.  Then, you round a bend and the lake disappears from view.  After about 0.4 miles, you begin a mild descent that takes you near the mid-way point where the beautiful cascade (left photo below) appears.

I should mention that the first time we hiked this section of trail was one week previous to today's adventure, and the cascade had already become a choice spot for Sam to get a cool drink of mountain water.

Another 25 yards of a briefly, steep ascent, takes you to this trail marker which will play a role on the return in our great adventure.

The second half of this one mile stretch of Edmonds Trail is steeper on average than the first half, and Sam seemed to be tiring and slowing, but with frequent vocal encouragement she kept apace.  Eventually we came to a bridge about 50 yards from North Germany Mountain Road near which this marker may be seen.

After a brief rest and another drink of water for Sam near the bridge, we re-crossed the bridge and began our descent.  As may be seen in faint print on the map above, this bridge as well as the mid-trip cascade involve Greasy Creek.  Greasy Creek is a significant feeder, together with Taylor Creek, to Black Rock Lake.  The lake's outflow contributes soon to the birth of the Little Tennessee River.  The half mile of trail between the cascade and this bridge usually has the creek in sight, most typically showing long, narrow cascades

Now that we were descending and after a top-of-trail drink of water, Sam perked up noticeably.  Once, she chased off after something down a steep slope towards Greasy Creek, but upon my increasingly intense beckoning, she soon rejoined me on the trail.  This might be an appropriate time to mention in view of anxieties to come, that a couple of months earlier while driving along North Germany Mountain Road not too far from where the Edmonds Trail crosses, Anne and I had seen a bear cub browsing beside the road.  For the past 2-3 years a mama bear with three cubs had been seen frequently in a wide area near where we were, including between our cabin and our stream below it.  Folks who know about these things said mama bear was now an "empty nester", as the cubs were old enough to go out on their own.

Back to the trail, Sam, who can resemble a bear cub (left photo), and I trudged along. This canopied portion of the trail appears on the return about 100-200 yards before the Creek Ridge sign seen below reappears.

This photo of the Creek Ridge Campsite sign (also shown earlier) was actually taken on the descent.  In doing so and unknown to me at the time, a chain of events was set off that would result in "Sam's BIG adventure."  About 25 yards below this sign, we again reached the cascade.

Now, at the half-way point of the return, Sam waded in for another drink of cool clean mountain water, and soon we were on our way again.

Part 3: The Adventure Takes a Turn for the Worse

We proceeded towards Taylor's Chapel Road and my truck in the Black Rock Lake parking lot for about 200 yards before I realized that Sam's leash was no longer in my hand.  I immediately thought that I must have left it at the cascade when I had put down my pack and hiking stick to take a photo of Sam drinking water.  So,  I said "whoa" to Sam who had gotten about 15 yards ahead, and she turned and looked at me.  That is where my second mistake began.  She seemed ready to follow, so I hastened to retrace my steps to the cascade.  Maybe 15 seconds later when I next looked back, no Sam.  I called and whistled for her, but no Sam. 

Should I go on for the leash or turn my attention to find Sam?  I went for the leash hoping she would at least remain nearby.  I got to the cascade; no leash.  Then I recalled that I may have put pack, stick, and leash down to take the photo of the sign that may be seen two photos above.  Do I go the additional (steep uphill) 25 yards or turn back?  I went for the leash.  The leash was beneath the sign.  I quickly retrieved it and headed back hoping to find Sam sitting in the little meadow where she was last seen.  No such luck.  No Sam.  Calls and whistles were to no avail. 

What to do?  After another 10-15 minutes of calling, whistling, and waiting, I decided to proceed towards the truck hoping that, maybe, she had headed that way.  With each rounding of a bend and in between, calls of "SAM" were made and the whistle was blown.  Occasionally I heard barks in a distance that did not sound like Sam's, and I heard, I thought, voices.  After proceeding about 3/8s of a mile beyond where I had last seen her, it occurred to me that there may have been human voices coming from the backpackers camp site at Creek Ridge.  Voices might have carried across the valley between the Creek Ridge Campsite and the trail I had been following, and Sam may have been attracted to them.

I made the decision to go back to the Creek Ridge Campsite hoping, of course, to make contact with Sam along the way.  I retraced the 3/8's mile to where I had last seen Sam plus about 300 yards more to the campsite where I found no campers and no Sam, only a desolate, lonely, unused campsite.  Back I went to where I had last seen her, calling and whistling along the way.  I waited where I last saw her, calling and whistling, until it became evident that darkness might overcome me if I did not begin to make my way back to the truck.

My hope at that point was that I might find Sam at the truck anxiously awaiting my return.  When I could see the parking lot from up the mountain well before I got back to Taylor's Chapel Road, I saw a truck leaving the parking lot that resembled a neighbor's truck.  Had someone found Sam whose tags include one with my cabin and Athens telephone numbers?  Had someone called Anne, my wife, who had begun her drive back to Athens (less than  two hours from the cabin) about the time that Sam and I left for our hike?  Had Anne called my neighbor who had come looking for me and who, finding my truck empty, had left a note on my windshield?  When I reached Taylor's Chapel Road and as soon as my truck came into view, I peered hard for a view of Sam or at least a white piece of paper under the windshield wiper.  Alas, no Sam and no note.

Shortly after I reached my truck, a couple drove up and got out evidently planning a sunset walk by the lake. I spoke quickly to them and said that I had lost my dog.  We discussed Sam's description, and he had the foresight to ask her name, a detail I had forgotten to volunteer.  He also said that he would get some string from his truck.  I almost said, "Here, take the leash," but realized in time how silly that would be.  I did say that I had some rope I could give him, but by then he had the "string" in his hand , and it was obviously strong enough to serve as a temporary leash.  I wrote my name and cabin telephone number on a piece of paper, gave it to them, and said that I was going to drive to North Germany Mountain Road where Sam and I had been on the outer extent of our hike.

Getting to North Germany Mountain Road meant about a 2-mile drive on graveled Taylor's Chapel Road to the well-paved Black Rock Mountain Parkway.  After less that a mile on the Parkway, the equally well-paved North Germany Mountain Road forked to the right.  After about a mile of looking carefully for the Edmonds Trail crossing, which can be easily missed, I spotted the trail marker.  I drove ahead to the first driveway, less than a city block beyond the trail marker, and used it to turn around.  I was now back at the trail marker and bridge where Sam and I had been two hours before.  No Sam to be found.

Having long been heavy of heart and with darkness approaching, I drove back down Taylor's Chapel Road, which was also on the way to my cabin, to see if the couple had found Sam and, if not, go to my cabin.  I planned to resume the search in the morning as well as visit Park headquarters and the Rabun County Animal Control office to report Sam's loss.  I was not looking forward to confessing to the Park Rangers that I had broken Park rules by letting Sam be off leash.

As I slowly passed the parking lot at the east end of the lake, I could see the couple's truck, but I did not see them nor Sam.

Part 4: The Adventure Ends

Additional Photos May Be added Later

I drove slowly along Taylor's Chapel Road beside Black Rock Lake.  About the middle of the lake's length which is immediately adjacent to Taylor's Chapel Road is a deck for fishing or viewing and a walkway (photo right) that spans a small section of the lake that is included in the trail that encircles the lake.  I stopped and walked out on the deck. 

I looked towards the west end and yelled, "Saaammm." My voice resonated strongly, almost echoing from the mountain on which Sam and I had earlier hiked.  I faced directly across the lake and blew the whistle.  I turned towards the east end and again yelled, "Saaammm."  As the sound of my voice died, I heard a reply, "We have your dog."  I yelled back, "Thank you, I will come and get her."  Not seeing an easy way to turn around, I backed about 20 mph up the road the 200 yards it took to get to the road that leads down into the parking lot.  Thank goodness, no one was coming towards me!

I expected the voice that had replied, "We have your dog", to have come from the man of the couple with whom I had spoken earlier.  To my surprise, as there were no other vehicles in the parking lot or alongside the lake, it was not them but a couple named Leo and Sarah (whom I did not previously know) and their daughter, Kari, and Kari's fiance.  I cannot reconstruct all the details of what was said, in part because I was feeling some strong emotions, but it was clear from things that were said that they were nice, caring people who would have taken Sam home and cared for her if her family had not shown up soon, until they had called the numbers on her tag.  They said they had seen the telephone numbers on her tag.  Kari had tried to clear some thorns, etc. from  Sam's fur, and she commented that she thought one might be embedded in her skin just above her left eye.  They had also speculated about her breeding.  Leo commented that Sam was just sitting there and that they had speculated that either she was waiting for her owner or was getting ready to try to catch a duck.  We talked about where Sam and I were when I lost her, and Leo said that he knew the trail well as he had helped lay it out many years before.  Leo said that they lived on North Germany Mountain Road, and based on his description of where their home was, I now think that theirs was the driveway where I turned around when I drove back to see if Sam might have gone to that end of our hike.   Their car was parked at Taylor's Chapel Baptist Church near the west end of the lake which is why I had not seen it earlier.

Sam was one tired dog, and I wasn't feeling too frisky myself. When we reached the cabin, she went directly to her first floor bed.  She didn't move until about 10:00 PM when I went upstairs to go to bed.  She slowly made her way to her upstairs bed where she slept until 9:00 AM the next morning.  It took her a couple of days to get back to her normal diet and activity levels, but she seems fine now as this is being written, three days after her BIG adventure!

All's Well That Ends Well!

(John Heywood's Proverbs, 1546)