yeah, not so good

Well, we decided to do the art loeb going the way we hadn't gone, from davidson river to the boyscout camp. I took my beagle with me. He's been on some day hikes and has done good but never overnight. There's room for him in my sleeping bag, and thats what I had planned. He sleeps with me every night anyway. Well, around 4pm friday afternoon he took off on a deer trail near butter gap shelter. I called him for hours and he didn't show up until 8am the following morning. He was hypothermic, exhausted, limping and had a swollen eye. I put him in my sleeping bag and gave him some luke-warm water. He threw it up a couple times but eventually recooped. Luckily I was able to hike to the top of cedar rock mtn and make a phone call for a pick up. My fiance drove from charlotte to pick us up and take us to my car at the boyscout camp. It was about our only choice. I wasn't going to push the dog to go another 20 miles with a hurt leg and eye. Oh well. I was still able to test out my gear and I am thoroughly pleased! See ya'll at mt. leconte