Last week I posted about attempting to hike Little Black Mountain alone. Now, with my visiting parents in tow, I didn’t just attempt—I succeeded. I don’t think I could have done it without them. I needed them to force us to stop and take frequent breaks, so we’d have enough energy to carry on. I needed our mutual encouragement about pushing ahead. I’m sure I would’ve given up if I had been alone. It was wishful thinking to claim that, last week, I was a mere 45 minutes from the summit. Bah! That summit is no joke. It took us three hours to ascend, then two hours to descend. That includes all our breaks for snacking, drinking water, resting, and taking care of other unmentionable bodily needs.
Come on, Mom, you can do it.
Will this be the summit?
Will this be the summit?
Will this be the summit?
Nooooooooooo! A false summit! Blast! Foiled again! The web guide to this hike warned that there’d be a false summit. I’d say there were like four false summits. Mom tried to get us to claim that certain spots were the summit, so we could turn around sooner. We pressed on.
Will this be the summit?
A horny toad! Or a horned toad. Hey, what you do in your own time….
Will this be the summit?
Here’s Dad approaching the summit. Since I’m looking down on him, that means I’m on the summit!
Wait…what if that’s the summit? That pointy peak to the right, covered in evergreen trees? No, fortunately we had a little geological marker telling us that we need go no further.
9.6 miles round-trip, about 3,000 feet in elevation gain. The summit was about 8,000 feet above sea level.
Part of the summit experience was marred by my dread of going downhill. Your knees really take a pounding when you descend 3,000 feet. As Dad put it, “Uphill is tiring, but downhill is painful.”
See more pictures in my mom’s blog post. I included a few more shots from our descent, and from the beautiful blooming May flowers.
Back to the howling old owl in the woods
Hunting the horny back toad
Oh I’ve finally decided my future lies
Beyond the yellow brick road
I was so pooped I wanted to fall asleep while eating my dinner. I could’ve gone to bed at 6 and slept for 12 hours. I barely had the energy to type this blog post for you. But a great day like this deserves to be documented.
Hmm…I went further than you guys, apparently. That peak covered in trees is what I thought was the peak. Oh well.
Lovely photographs. Thanks for sharing. I really like the flower close-ups and the views from the summit.
So glad you made it there and back without being eaten alive by a mountain creature.