Sean Longstreet witnessed four days of startled reactions when he backpacked over Piute Pass above Bishop, CA this summer in the Eastern High Sierra. The popular Beaumont school district music instructor was not behaving oddly. He didn’t pick his guitar strings or blow his trumpet as he walked the steep trails. Instead, his companion attracted stares of surprise and reactions of laughter.
Longstreet backpacked with his standard poodle, Hendrix, a calm, friendly dog named after the legendary late rock guitarist. Labs, golden retrievers and shepherd mixes are more typical trail dogs. One thinks of poodles as canines that tread sidewalks sporting painted, manicured nails and wear ribbons in chic, urban neighborhoods such as Little Italy in San Diego. You would expect a poodle to drink Perrier while reposed at a sidewalk cafe, not lapping from a high-mountain lake.
Longstreet noticed people on the trail must have thought the same thing. He said they looked startled when they rounded a corner and spotted a big, light-brown poodle wearing a red backpack filled with dog food. Hendrix was a great conversation starter in the back country. Just about everyone who saw him stopped to chat.
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I am Jeff Clark, founder of Internet Brothers, producer of this blog, and passionate about hiking. I live in Western NC near the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains. Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests are just out my door, so the content will focus on these areas, but let me know what you would like to see on the site. 
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