The next morning I boiled a pot of water on the old Coleman stove for a quick cup of coffee. There was too much to see and do to bother with food. You can eat anywhere, but you can’t have mountains in your backyard every morning if you’re a Florida boy!
I wanted to introduce Cody to this new world and I wanted him to love the mountains as much as I did. Behind our campsite was a faint path. I knew it had to lead down to the gorge, so I grabbed my trusty old Canon camera and we were off. The brisk mountain air chilled me at first, but we were setting a fast pace and I warmed up quickly.
Cody sniffed the trail like a bloodhound, zigzagging here and there, enjoying all the new scents. I envied the experience - that keen sense of smell. It must be a whole different world.
We were headed downhill and I knew the trail on the edge of the gorge couldn’t be far. Suddenly Cody lifted his head, his nose wiggled, and his ears stood straight up in high-alert mode. Then I heard some voices and saw three backpackers coming up the trail towards us. Cody was about twenty feet ahead of me and when he spotted the hikers, he froze in his tracks. I had no idea what his reaction might be. I knew Cody was timid and spooky, but this was a new situation. This was the wilderness… his natural territory. Would he charge them in defense?
I got the answer to that question in the next few seconds. My brave wolfdog took one look at these ‘monsters’ with the huge humpbacks, then came running back up the trail and blew right by me! Cody had turned tail and abandoned me! I called out to him, but he kept on going. He finally stopped at a bend in the trail, high above us and stared down, wide-eyed.
"Cody! Come on, buddy! It's okay!" The hikers stopped in their tracks after seeing what looked like a wolf racing up the mountainside.
"That's my dog," I said, with an embarrassed grin. "This is the first time he's ever been in the forest and I think he thinks you guys are the boogey man."
They laughed and I did, too. I was actually relieved at Cody's reaction. They asked what breed Cody was, if he was part wolf... the usual questions and while we were talking, Cody sat down in his spot uphill and seemed to calm down. I guess he figured if Dad could talk to these strange creatures, maybe they weren’t so bad after all. One of the guys said they were ready to take a break anyway so they would step off the trail if it would help us get by. I walked back uphill to Cody and clipped the leash to his collar.
"C'mon, bud. Really, it's alright. They won't hurt you." The hikers dropped their packs and sat down so they didn’t look quite so scary to Cody. He let me lead him down the trail, but I could feel him pulling on the leash. As we passed the hikers, he kept his eyes glued on them and stayed as far on his side of the trail as he could.
"Thanks, guys," I called back, after we got by. I unhooked the leash and Cody took off running. I didn't know how far he might go so I ran after him. When I finally caught up to him, he was panting and I was out of breath. I knelt down beside him and put my arm around his neck.
"So, some protector you are!" Cody grinned up at me, greatly relieved that we had escaped the monsters. I tried to imagine what they must have looked like to him. All three of the guys were pretty tall, and the backpacks made them look even larger. They must've looked like huge hunchbacks to Cody.
In one way, the incident reassured me. I hadn't known how he would react toward a person he perceived as a threat, so I was very relieved to discover Cody was a pacifist. He obviously was not going be a watchdog, but that was ok with me. I've always been a peaceful kind of guy, myself, so Cody and I were turning out to be a pretty good match.
