Moray and the Mountain

At the beginning of October I had the pleasure of a visit from the adorable black pupster, none other than Moray himself! We had a fabulous several days together full of beautiful weather, exciting adventures, and even a few snakes. Moray's puppy raisers dropped him off on Wednesday after I was done with classes for the day.

On Thursday I had classes most of the day...but my last class was Ecology Lab. Even though my college had turned down my request to bring a puppy in training to classes, Ecology Lab is a little different, and my professor had already cleared it with me. So at 2pm I nixed taking the college bus to Roan Mt to study high altitude ecosystems. Instead I drove my own car so I could stop at home to pick up Moray and a snack for both of us. Everyone in my class and my professor....all 5 of them...LOVED Moray. The crisp air, filled with the scent of plants unique to this area, was pretty distracting for Moray at first. I'll admit, I wasn't focused on him quite as much as the situation warranted, and I resorted to using a discrete bribe several times to get his attention back on me. In my defense, I was technically in class...

It was a beautiful day. The sky was an intense blue, the air was perfectly still and clear, and the trees were just starting to turn. After Ecology was over, the rest of the class drove back down the mountain, but Moray and I stayed. I planed on spending the rest of the afternoon here, even if I DID have homework to do back home. It was about 4:30pm and I really wanted to stay at least long enough to see the sunset.

Moray was such a trooper. We took our time hiking to Grassy Ridge which is only about 2.5 miles from the parking lot, but the total elevation gain is 1150 feet, making it a fairly decent climb. It was also unusually warm for Roan Mountain with almost no breeze, so I was glad that I had brought water for both of us. Before the final steep ascent, I stopped to let Moray rest and drink...steep climbs can wear out even the most spry puppy legs and the dude was panting.

I was enjoying my rest and laughing as I watched Moray stumble clumsily through the thick, clumpy, grass chasing grasshoppers.

At least I thought they were grasshoppers. When I finally got up for a closer look, I saw this:

Can you tell what that is?

Here's a closer look:

That's two little snakes you see there...the big one is eating the small one. Nice find Moray.

We continued on our way up to the top and as we walked, the trail continued to get narrower and deeper. You see, the trail on Roan Mountain is wide and well graveled with wooden steps for the first few hundred yards to the first bald where most of the people stop to take pictures and then go back. After that, it is really just a rut worn into the thick meadow grass of the balds. Rain running down off the mountain naturally flows through the trail, washing it deeper. The steeper the trail, the deeper the rut. Because of the light traffic it gets once you're past the first bald or so, it is very narrow - just wide enough for one set of feet to walk without bumping the edges of the rut. Grass grows thickly on the edges and falls over the top making it look even narrower. Unfortunately for Moray, the grass also made the ground look bigger. On the way up the mountain, he was constantly trying to climb out of the rut and walk beside me on the grass...and constantly  tripping and falling back in where it draped over the trail. Eventually he figured out that there really wasn't enough space to walk beside me and settled in behind me.

 Once we made it to the top, we sat back to back on the boulders that form the summit and drank in the breathtaking beauty. And the water I brought, of course. I munched on an apple and some trail mix and Moray had his supper. We took pictures, (well, I took pictures...) and cuddled, and laughed and sat silently in awe of the mountain.

Oh, hello

Well, Ok then.

Such a doll

I was laughing because he kept moving out of the shot
or bumping me just as I took it...

...he was really just bumping me out of the way so he
could get this shot of his "good side"
"if only the background wasn't so cluttered..." he thinks ;)

Finally I realized that the sun was just starting to sink behind the clouds atop Roan Mt. (the actual peak) so we headed back.

 The sky all around us continued to blaze brighter and brighter until it climaxed just as we topped the last bald before the parking lot. It literally looked like the mountain was on fire.

My pictures are frustrating because clearly my phone didn't do a great job of capturing the magnificence and intensity of the colors. But they're better than nothing.

We drove home in the dark and slept very well that night.