Nice hike today

Aaaaahhh..... it's been a while since I've been on a day hike and it's been a LONG time since I've been to Stone Mountain State Park in NC. So I was looking forward to my summer hike. I had invited Becky, a newbie hiker, and had promised her that it would be an easy 5 mile hike. The only hard part would be the first .75 miles, where we would actually climb up 750 feet in elevation, but the rest would be nice trail.

Around 8:30am, I picked up Becky and we zoomed up to the mountains and at 10:30am we were stepping on the trail and climbing our way up to the top. Now it has been a while since I've been to this park, over 7 yrs and I took my mom last time, and alot has changed. As we were climbing up these never ending nice wooden stair cases, I was telling Becky that back in the day, we used to hike up this mountain along the rock face and had to literally hold onto roots, trees, and rocks to get us up to the top. The trail has also changed a bit, it used to be along the side of the mountain, where you had some great views for most of the way up. Now the stairs wind thru the woods and you don't get really good views til you get to the top. It's a shame they changed the trail, but I can understand why. It's safer and more accessible for more people to come out an enjoy the park. Still, it was really a workout before and you felt like you were really deserved the views b/c you were busting your hump over the rock face.

So after we reached the summit, we stopped for a break to snap some pictures, eat a snack, and drink lots of water. Then we walked the ridge a bit and started our descent down along a 200 ft. water fall. The last 4 miles were pretty smooth and easy and I think Becky really enjoyed it. Once we got to the bottom, we took a picture of the rock faced Stone Mountain we just climbed. I didn't see the usual slew of rock climbers out, but it was pretty hot. We made it down to the little outdoor museum settlement, which consisted of a barn, corn crib, garden, another building, an outhouse, and a little cabin. We met a nice man named Mr. McGrady, and he told us his grandfather used to live in the settlement and he remembers spending lots of nights in the old two room house with a loft. The property was in his family since it was granted to them in 1783 and The Hutchinson family eventually sold it to the state park system in the late 1960's. It was really cool to talk to a real live part of history. It made the little museum that much more interesting. We hop back on the trail for the last 1/4 mile and we are back at the car by 1:30pm. As we hop in the car, I ask Becky if she wants to stop and have lunch at the little country store that is famous for it's ice cream! She says yes and off we go to enjoy our earned reward. As we were browsing the little gifts in the shop, we come across this sign, right above the homemade jelly's, that reads, "Flies $1.89 each, this box." We both immediately think it's for REAL flies! and start laughing, after all it's set up right by all the food stuff, not the fishing stuff. Anyways, I snap a picture and we head out to go home. It was a perfect day for a hike, the weather was overcast so not that hot, and the climb gave us a good work out. Becky enjoyed the hike and I loved being outside. Til next time... GET OUTDOORS!!!