Have you ever lost a dog while hiking? Zero out of ten experience; would not recommend.
However, I would recommend hiking to Humpback Rocks from the picnic area. The trail is moderate in difficulty, located in George Washington National Park, and is six miles out and back. It’s dog-friendly, so bring the pups along, and begins off the blue ridge parkway in the Humpback Rocks picnic area, where you’ll spend some time on the Appalachian Trail before detouring to the rocks.
There are a couple of overlooks a mile in that makes this a great hike to do in fall. Generally, it’s a decent trail for solitude until you get closer to Humpback Rocks, but you’ll likely run into a few thru-hikers.
As for the tale of the missing pup, that happened the first time I hiked this trail. The missing dog in question was Nala, a dog I pet sit for and had taken on many hikes in the past. The moment of her disappearance came during the final half mile of our hike, when my hiking partner and sat soaking in the view one last time before heading to the car. We hadn’t intended on hiking all six miles initially, but it was a balmy day, and we had plenty of time, snacks, and water to spare.
I had a rather loose grip on Nala’s leash as I stepped down from the overlook. Nala saw something and bolted into the woods, the leash slipping out of my grip and fluttering in the wind behind her. For a few moments, I called after her thinking she would return. She did not.
Cue me panickily bushwhacking in the general direction she’d run in. Luckily common sense prevented this from becoming a story about a young woman missing in the woods and I returned to my friend, and we walked around the trail looking for her to no avail. Eventually, my friend and I split ways. I head for the car, my friend heads the other way. By some miracle, or perhaps thanks to a nearby cell tower, there was sporadic albeit stable service on the trail, so my friend and I were able to text!
To make a long story short, I drive around the parkway searching for her. Nala is nowhere to be found and the sun is setting. My friend has had no luck either. After deliberating (with myself), I speed hike back to where she’d vanished and tell my friend I’ll pick her up at the other side of the trail. So there’s me hiking uphill at dusk at the speed of light. Not a single soul on the trail, and all I can think about was this one review I’d read eons ago about someone seeing a mountain lion in this area.
Are their mountain lions on Afton Mountain? Probably not. But if there was one, it was surely following me that day.
Anywho, my friend gave her number to a guy who was part of a group camping and informed them of our missing dog. While they’re chilling around a fire, they see a howling “bear” and realize it’s probably the missing dog. The dude tries catching her, but she runs off. So, he follows her in flip flops and pajamas all the way down the mountain where they eventually run into me. Nala was glad to see me and came right to me. Flip flops dude was thanked for his dedication, and our six-mile hike turned into a twelve-mile hike when all was said and done.
Happy hiking!
