NORTH BEND, WASH. — A Seattle man made a new furry friend while hiking Teneriffe Falls near North Bend, Washington.

Having lived in Seattle since 2012, Scott Brown, 40, is involved with a non-profit called “Recovery beyond Paradigm” where he helps train hikers who are dealing with drug and alcohol addiction as part of their recovery process.

Just before his hiking group started their snowy journey early Monday morning, Brown told ABC News that he spotted a black dog near the empty parking lot by the trail entrance, which seemed relatively normal given the neighborhood across the street.

After the dog stuck around for a few hundred yards Brown laughed and said, “Well, I guess he’s coming with us.”

Once the group started walking, the dog took the lead all way to the falls.

“He would sit and wait for us as we took photos and then continue on when we did,” Brown said.

As they arrived at the falls, Brown’s friend checked the dog’s tags and discovered two messages.

The front of the tag read: “Hi, I’m Smokey. I live nearby so please don’t take me. I like to follow hikers sometimes.”

And the back: “Don’t worry, I’ll go home when I get tired. My people love me a lot. Thanks for being nice!”

Brown, at first, thought his friend was joking.

“So I took a look,” Brown added, “and, sure enough, coolest thing ever.”

According to Brown, Smokey was well behaved and only started to bark when he climbed down an embankment across the half-frozen creek.

“He seemed very protective for someone he just met,” Brown said.

Smokey proceeded to escort the hikers back down and stayed in the parking lot until they changed out of their hiking gear.

“He gave out a quick bark at us,” Brown said, “then continued on back home I assume.”

Source: ABC News