A taxi ,reserved by Don earlier in the week, picked us up at 0630 and dropped us off at the trail head. For the first few hours the trail we were walking on was nicely defined. The trail is used by sakau farmers because it grows best on hill sides. We past a few sakau plantations and as we did the quality of the trail deteriorated. Several times we lost the trail and needed to back track a little. At around 0930 I noticed a dog about 20 feet behind Megan. The dog followed us for quite awhile. It didn’t seem that the dog intended to harm us but we were a little leery because of the other dogs we have met on Pohnpei. At one point the trail seemed to dead end so we had to cross a stream. The dog didn’t seem to want to get wet so we parted ways. About ten minutes later he was back. The next time we took a break I put some trail mix on a rock and the dog ate it very gingerly. He followed us a little closer now.
After we pasted a big sakau plantation the trail pretty much dead ended. We now bush whacked our way through the jungle while following a stream. As we gained elevation this became more difficult. At one point we were wading in the stream at an angle that made it more of a waterfall than a stream. We had given up trying to stay dry anyway as it was now sprinkling. Even though I was drenched I was not uncomfortable because it was warm out. As we ascended further the stream actually became a waterfall that was very beautiful. The dog was still following us although he didn't seem to enjoy it anymore. He was having a hard time on the slippery rocks. A couple times I didn't think he was going to be able to follow us due to the terrain but he always seemed to find a way that better catered to four legs.
After scaling a large boulder I realized that there was no way the dog would be able to follow us anymore. Once the dog realized this he started backtracking, looking for a different path. As soon as I had all but given up hope I spotted the dog. He was actually above us about 10 feet but couldn't get to us. Thinking he would eventually figure out how to get to us we continued up the waterfall. When we had left his sight he started whimpering a little bit. I felt bad but thought surely he would find a way to us. A few more minutes went by and he started howling as if he where really in distress. Don said that there was a dry spot up a little further and that we could take a break there. Immediately I went back down to see if I could help the dog. The howling got louder as I got closer and I was afraid that he had hurt himself trying to get to us. Fearing the worst I continued descending. As I neared the dogs distress calls my mind was racing; “What if he fell and broke his leg?”, “What would I do if he was immobilized?”, “Why did I give him the @#!$ trail mix?", …etc. I was now in a position that I believed I would be able to see the dog. I couldn’t. My mind continued racing. Hearing and not seeing the dog I was pretty sure I would have to put the dog out of his misery. Now I was racing down toward him stumbling along as I went. At once the howling stopped. I stopped fearing the worst. I looked up to see him in the same spot I left him, he was looking at me. My presence seemed to calm him. The dog didn’t look distressed in the least. He looked bored. I went about searching for a way to get him down. Once I did this he seemed to start looking again too. I found a way to get to him but it involved wet, slippery rocks. I was pretty sure that if I could get to him I would not be able to get down and definitely not be able to help him down. Megan now joined me and she felt that the situation was pretty hopeless. Although oblivious to this until now I realized that it was raining very hard. Megan retreated to the dry spot. Ten minutes later Don showed up to see what was going on. I had pretty much given up at this point and seeing Don I realized that we should continue on our way. Don shrugged his shoulders and I was ready to continue on the hike. Just then the dog walked up right next to me. Seriously folks I couldn’t have made this stuff up if I tried.
We continued over broken terrain up the hill. Now the dog was at my heels. Periodically I would hit the dog in the face with my heel he was so close. We pasted a few vistas that offered beautiful views of the forest and even a waterfall. After quite a long climb our journey seemed to plateau, though still ascending the elevation gain was negligible. Noon arrived and we took a lunch break. The dog benefited as we all took pity on him and shared our lunches with him. I fed him some more trail mix and after I had finished my apple I gave him the core, he ate it. Not many dogs will eat fruit and I suppose there are even less that will the core of an apple. He sat in front of all us, pretty evenly spaced waiting for a handout. After Don fed him some of his bagel that contained meat he sat a little closer to Don. As we continued I remarked that if the dog followed us up a waterfall for a few nuts and some cereal he surely wasn’t going to leave us after we fed him so much. Knowing that Megan wouldn’t be against the idea I said that if he followed us all the way home we’d keep him.
At the end of the days journey we came into a large meadow that was filled with ferns. This is where we would camp for the night. The meadow…
The campsite…
After setting up camp we headed to a stream to get some more drinking water. Don snapped this pic of us with our potential new dog (he’s pretty scrawny)…
Notice on the left of the previous pic there is a stick next to Megan. We each had a walking stick that was very instrumental to our getting up and eventually down the mountain. Here is pic of Megan ascending the fern meadow…
This is what the view from our campsite was. Here you can see the mangrove forest at the edge of island, the outer reef of Pohnpei, and the farthest thing you see is Ant Atoll…
We had a pleasant evening enjoying each others company and reliving the events of the day. Dusk set in around 1830 and we decided to go to sleep for the evening. Megan and I talked about a possible name for the dog. We settled on Oliver after the title character in the play Oliver Twist. “Please sir, can I have some more?” was what he seemed to be saying as he followed us during the day.
Believe it or not we shivered throughout the night. The combination of damp clothes and fierce wind kept us very cool. Despite this we felt well rested in the morning. A nature call finally made me emerge from the tent. I was curious to see if the dog had decided to stay with us. The spot he was the previous evening was vacant but Don was up and motioned over near his tarp. At some point during one of the many night rains the dog had cozied himself up to get escape the rain. I didn’t get a picture of the dog but he was curled up in tight ball kind of like he is in this pic…
After packing up the tent we decided to skip breakfast since it was raining, we hoped it would clear a little or we could find some shelter in the forest. The first thirty minutes of the morning I was miserable. The rain was pounding us pretty hard. I had a small pool of water in my shirt where the waist belt from my pack was wrapped around me. The ferns we were walking through made sure our legs were equally saturated. I had a hard time warming up since the ferns grew very thick we walked pretty slowly. Once we were out of the meadow we picked up some speed and the canopy of the forest helped shield us from the downpour. At around 0830 we found a small shack that Don guessed was a temporary shelter for sakau or banana farmers. We decided to have breakfast there. Once again we all gave a portion of our breakfast to the dog. Since we each shared so much with him he may have eaten more that any of us individually.
Up until breakfast Oliver had followed me very closely. However after Don shared a hardboiled egg and part of a bagel that had salmon on it the dog decided to split his time behind me and Don. After a mid morning break and more of the salmon bagel, Oliver followed Don exclusively…
I had to sneak the previous pic of Don as he seemed a little camera shy. Notice how close Oliver is to Don. That is how close he always follows. Sometimes he will stop and smell something foe a few moments but he never goes in front of the person he is following.
Our destination was the COM national campus, pictured here…
At around 1130 we arrived and used the facilities to wash up. Originally we planned to take a taxi from COM to our house in Kolonia but now that we had a dog we figured this wouldn’t be possible so I headed to small store and bought Oliver a can of tuna to prepare him for the 5 mile walk. As we were about to embark another one of Megan’s officemates, John, offered us a ride in his car. This was relief to us. Especially our feet.
I’m sure we’ll have a lot to write about in the next few days with the new house mate and all. I’ll leave you with a pic of Oliver in at his new home. His scrawy spine has earned him the nickname “stegosaurus”…
2 comments:
Yeah! You have a dog! That's so much fun. That was definitely my favorite entry so far. What a great story!
I loved the story -
Jordan: You have a dog, it's just so exciting! I can't believe it. He was so sweet in a ball when you showed him in the ground in a ball. And it was kinda funny when you said that he was so close to Don. I hope you have fun with your dog. Love, Jordan
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