Remembering Mitch, a Very Special Trail Dog
We recently learned about a local dog, Mitch, who came to be quite the legend on Brush Mountain and the Gateway Trail in particular. Mitch’s best friend Mike graciously shared some memories of their time together on the mountain and roaming this beautiful area.
“I adopted Mitch in December 2007. He had spent 3 years as a teaching dog at the Veterinary School, helping veterinary students master the skills necessary to become veterinarians. He was born in a facility that provided dogs for research. I picked him for adoption because he had the sweetest disposition. We started hiking the Gateway Trail, and other Poverty Creek Trails, in the spring of 2009. He stopped hiking in the spring of 2018 and died the beginning of November, he was almost 15. We usually hiked to the top of Brush Mountain on the Gateway Trail, but sometimes we went to Poverty Creek and then back to the top again. Soon after we started, we hiked all of the Poverty Creek Trails. I remember the first time I took Mitch on the Gateway and let him off the leash, I wasn’t sure if he would like hiking and what he would do as he had never been off a leash before. He stood there and looked at me thinking let’s get hiking, I like this. He always stayed on the trail with me, although he lagged a bit behind to sniff everything, and to mark the trail as his own. He was always polite to other hikers or bikers and their dogs. He was a very gentle, quiet and loving dog. He did not bark. I never saw him growl, snarl, or snap at another dog. Twice he ran off the trail after some deer, but decided hiking was more fun. He did not know he could cross Poverty Creek. At first, I had to carry him across. He also did not know he could drink water from Poverty Creek.
Over the years we hiked all of the popular hikes in our region including Cascades, McAfee Knob, Dragon’s Tooth, Kelly’s Knob, Tinker Cliffs, Peaks of Otter, etc. He also hiked many of the Wilderness areas in Virginia and Grayson Highlands State Park, including the summit of Mount Rogers, the highest point in Virginia. I didn’t hike often by myself on Brush Mountain when he became too sick or old to hike. After he died, I couldn’t hike Brush Mountain at all for a while. He had been my constant companion hiking on this mountain more than 1100 times, it was our mountain together, not my mountain alone. We hiked in the snow, enjoyed the blooming of the Mountain Laurel, flame azalea, and rhododendron every spring, and the fall colors. We even hiked at midnight during some full moons. One year we hiked on the mountain186 times!
Years later I would encounter hikers and bikers we had met previously. Few remembered my name, almost all remembered Mitch’s name. Living so close to the Gateway Trail has been one of the best things about living in Blacksburg. The trails are an amazing local asset for hikers and bikers. I am so happy that new trails have been built to expand this system. Hiking on Brush Mountain so often with Mitch was truly a special time in my life.”
