Mount Pisgah Trail

Late yesterday afternoon, the black cloud of death passed by and the temperature dropped from 88 to 70 degrees within a matter of 20 minutes or so. It was such a quick, drastic change, that we were about to put our sweaters on until all of a sudden, the humidity kicked in and made it feel like a sauna.

The humidity was still lingering high this morning, so we decided to head to cooler grounds and run/hike to the top of Mount Pisgah, something we've wanted to do for a long time.

Normally we can see Mount Pisgah from our back deck, but yesterday it was hidden by the ominous cloud and rain. 

Just an FYI, if you didn't already know, for every 1000 ft of elevation gain, the temperature will generally drop 5 degrees.

Mount Pisgah Trail started off fairly benign with sections we could run.

But looking up toward our destination we knew, for us, the running part would be coming to an end soon.

The boy was definitely up for the challenge, looking back at me like, seriously, this is as fast as you can go.

So I'm going to be straight up honest with you right now. I lingered back behind the boys and took as many pictures of flowers as I could as an excuse to stop and catch my breath. This trail was tough for me.

Lots of beautiful nature to admire. Didn't see any wildlife today though.

Where's Waldo? aka Shadow :-) Can you see him?

Well there he is!

Lovely Carolina Lily.

Looking back toward the Blue Ridge Parkway. We still have to climb about 200 ft.

Yes up...

Right about this point, my hands were on my knees pushing my legs to get up the hill, lungs feeling like they were going to explode, and my heart pounding so hard, I could hear it in my ears, and all of a sudden, there we were, looking up at the tower!

For us, the reward for making it to the top was the cool breeze and the awesome view...

Shadow's reward was meeting a new friend.

We met several very nice people at the top and all along the way.

I think the effort it takes to make it to the top just takes the meanness out of people and everyone becomes nice because they're just trying to stay alive and breath.

Wouldn't mind doing this again for sure.

The happiest face in the world for going on a new adventure.

Only one misstep on the way back, Bart zigged when Shadow zagged. The trail and rocks were wet and slippery.

We highly recommend the Mt Pisgah Trail.  There was a lot of foot traffic today, and I think if we were to do it again on the weekend, we would try to get an earlier start in the morning, or perhaps go on a weekday morning instead.

~Eve, Bart & Shadow