Clingmans Dome
Tennessee
May 2013
Foggy day for this summit hike, unfortunately obscuring our view of the mountains. Instead, I look down. I look for dog hobble. Growing close to the ground, it shouldn’t be obscured by the fog.
I remember dog hobble from another hike in the Smokies. Dog hobble is a fast-growing evergreen shrub with teeny, pretty white flowers that grow in clusters. Supposedly in the old days, dogs would chase rodents, catch them and kill them. I don’t know if they ate them, probably not, but maybe so. The rodent, a mole or mouse or chipmunk or chinchilla or possibly a rat, when presented with a dog hobble opportunity, would run into the bramble of dog hobble and just keep on going. Rover would follow but because of his much larger size, and because of the shrub’s closely interlaced branches, he would get caught and not be able to continue. Dog hobbled.
It is rumored that if you were to fall into dog hobble, you would get caught in the tangle and never actually hit the ground. Possibly never come out?