Ken Loyd's Eclectic Blog: Stone Mountain State Park, NC: to the Summit (Part 1)

On Friday, Judy and I undertook the most

challenging hike of our retirement era: the

Loop Trail of North Carolina's Stone Mountain

State Park. Not to be confused with Georgia's

Stone Mountain, which we also love.

This park is called one of our state's hidden

treasures and is just 30 minutes off interstate

near Elkin, NC, where we stayed Friday night.

I don't have a "bucket list," but since I'm having

both knees replaced next spring, and thought I

might have to delay this hike for months or years,

I offered one more fall excursion to Judy and

she accepted. Not without some tredpidation

(from me, too). Since I've had knee trouble we

generally limit our hikes to 2 miles +-, selecting

either easy or moderate trails. But this one was

4.5 miles and designated strenuous. Let's see

how it turned out.

Seeing fall leaves wasn't our top priority, and they were
perhaps a week past their peak, but nevertheless, they
were stunning, especially in the bright sun.

From the Ranger's station/museum/welcome center,
a partial view of a stone face.

We climbed the stairs to enter, perhaps to prepare
ourselves for the trail.

This map shows all the trails.

We did the Loop Trail.

Since it's a loop trail, there were two access points.
We chose to begin at the lower parking area, which
meant we would climb 600 feet to the summit in less
than the first mile.

We had scarcely begun when we saw this natural
rest stool beside the trail.

I'll include several pictures of trailside warnings.
There have been fatalities both on the mountainsides
and at the waterfalls. This is especially for dear friend
Liz Taylor, who has always delighted in frightening me
with her death-defying curiosity.

"Ken, I think we've lost the trail. I don't see any of
the little orange markers."
(Forgive me, Judy)

There were going to be hundreds more of
sturdy steps like these from here to the summit.
You can tell we weren't to the treacherous part
yet because no railings were needed.

Going up. The views became increasingly spectacular.

Where the trail led across the rock face and there were
no steps, steel cables were provided to give you something
to cling to. They were only on one side, but that was enough.
I would not have wanted to walk this trail when either the
leaves or the rocks were wet. But it was perfect this day.

So far, so good. And the ibuprofen is working.

Now for the railings. Very helpful.

The sky, the distant mountains, and the rock formations
all contributed to memorable views.

This was pretty scary. But I had to document everything.

I'm glad they didn't have so many barriers as to
detract from the views. But I can see why the trail
is not recommended for children.

Into the wild blue yonder

Only the hardiest of trees take root and
survive on rock mountains such as this.
And the howling northwest wind this day
surely tested the roots of many plants.

The wind was actually so strong at times, I would
have feared to go on without this cable. Because
if you fell and started to roll or slide, there was
nothing to hang on to.

It was a long way up, and it's a long way down!

Never for a minute did we have any regrets.
For a couple of hours, maybe. (Just kidding)

Here we are at the summit. It's certainly not so high
above sea level, but everything is relative, and 600
feet above the surrounding terrain is quite a climb.