Joey got his rabies vaccine and NJ pet license recently, so he was legal to hike the Pine Barrens trails. The weather looked good this weekend, with a high around 50 and a low around 34. On the 1.5 hour drive to Atsion, Joey was extremely nervous. I don't think he had ever driven that far and he couldn't sleep. We finally got there, where njredneck was waiting to hike with us. As soon as we hit the trail, Joey's mind was blown! He had never smelled anything like the Pine Barrens. Beagles have one of the keenest senses of smell of all dogs, and the Pine Barrens was sensory overload.
After hiking about half of the six miles to our destination, Lower Forge, we stopped and took a rest. Joey drank an entire liter of water! We got to camp around 4:30 pm and I put Joey on a long leash so I could set up my hammock. Joey wasn't having it - he did not want to be tied up and ignored, and started barking (and I definitely didn't want him to bark). He tried to eat my Zing-It guylines, my cuben fiber tarp, my quilts and my Chameleon hammock. Eventually, I had to give up on setting up, until njredneck was done and could keep Joey company.
After I set up my hammock, I gave Joey some dry food, then I cooked him a hamburger on my Emberlit EL Mini titanium wood stove. He also ate some of the Italian sub I brought for dinner. We stoked the Emberlit with wood for an hour or so and enjoyed the ambience, then went to bed around 8 pm because njredneck and I were tired, and Joey was too.
I was somewhat worried how Joey would take to sleeping in a hammock. He's never lasted 15 minutes in my office hammock. However, Joey was perfectly fine, but I think I lucked out with the high winds. They probably dispersed any animal scent or noise that otherwise would have woken him up and caused him to howl. I was very concerned about how he would react if the coyotes came through, but if they were out there, the howling wind covered up their noise.
Joey woke up around 10 pm and I had to take him for a walk. He woke me again at 3 am, and had to have another walk. He noticed the moon reflecting off the Batsto River, and wanted to go check it out. While I had tried to get him to drink river water earlier in the day (ice cold and as pure as can be found in the US - better than the fetid puddles he usually slurps from), he wouldn't do it. But the moon seduced him on this walk, and he drank at least a liter. After going back to sleep, Joey soon discovered that I don't entirely zip up my Chameleon hammock, so he started hanging his head out so he could cool down. Once cooled off, he would crawl down into the footbox of my underquilt for further sleep, then repeat the whole process, over and over again. He finally woke me again at 6 am, and I had to take him for another walk, which involved more thirst-quenching at the river.
It was already daylight by the time we got back to camp around 6:30 am, so Joey woke up njredneck (nobody wakes up njredneck - he's always the first to rise!). Njredneck made coffee, and I tried to pack up, but Joey did not want to be left alone on the leash. It was too early to be barking, but he wasn't as bad as the night before. However, when I tried to go to the latrine, Joey wouldn't tolerate that. I had to ask njredneck to keep him company, and gave him a bag of pistachios to occupy Joey (he loves pistachios).
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We hit the trail and Joey was much more mellow and used to the Pine Barrens. Njredneck and I were not doing too well since we are old and out of shape - we had to stop for a Tylenol/aspirin break and to give Joey some water. Njredneck's ankle was bothering him so he called his son to drive in and rescue us. My transverse arch was killing me, and I had a wicked thigh cramp as well, so it was nice when Christoper showed up to cut a mile off our trek. Joey slept the entire way home and I didn't want to wake him up, even though I was hungry and could have used a stop at Wendy's for something to eat.
Overall, I think it was a very successful first hike-and-hammock hang for Joey. Much of his fidgety attitude and waking up was due to him being a 10-month old puppy, and also due to the newness of the whole thing. I do expect him to grow out of those behaviors on future hangs. While Joey was a pain in the butt about some things, it was nice to share the piney woods with such a fine dog. I have never really had a hiking dog. I think he did pretty good with 11 miles in two days!
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