May 9, 2010
I threw may phone in the cup holder this morning and jumped out of my skin. There was a cockroach in there. It took a second for me to start laughing at myself for the cockroach was a fake. WildWest gave one to me and to LC last night as we were porch sippin’ and wine swingin’. This was a memento of a creature that I can’t stand. I was headed out to Hanging Rock State Park today to finally get in the hike I planned to do the day of the snow storm in February. I arrived around noon, ate my lunch, and hit the Hanging Rock Trail. The trail was busy. But, in the first 5 minutes of my hike I saw a swallowtail. This is always a good sign since butterflies are my favorite!
I made it up to hanging rock quickly and took in the breathtaking view. It was spectacular! Unfortunately peaceful wasn’t a descriptive word I could use here. I kept trying to hear with my eyes to drown out the family that found it necessary to yell about everything. There were maybe 10-12 of them in the group and “theys from dem dare southern hills”. They were even calling themselves hillbillies. “Why yes you are,” I thought to myself. Courtesy to others was not in their realm of living. I snapped a few pictures and headed away from the crowd. I wandered out on a few ledges and took in the beauty. It was like being in an atrium. The flowers were blooming, the eagles soaring, and butterflies were everywhere. Did I mention that I like butterflies? As I was leaving, I noticed the crowd left just before me. No way was I following them down the trail. Time for a little off-trailing. I cut down through the woods and was following what appeared to be an animal path. I’m not sure how I didn’t crash on the way down. It was quite steep. To my luck (and surprise) I actually found the path and end up in front of the crowd. Awesome!
After visiting hanging rock, I took the Moore’s Wall Trail. It started by following one side of the lake and then went up and up and up. Earlier from the top of hanging rock, I could see the peak of the mountain I was now climbing. This hike was most spectacular. Because of its “strenuous” marking, not many people were on the trail. Ahhhhh…peace at last. I did pass a few people on the way around the path and they were not peace disturbers. The trail was lined with blooming Rhododendrons (Greek for rose tree) and Kalmia Latfolia (aka Mountain Laurel). For those who don’t know, Mountain Laurel is the Pennsylvania state flower and is illegal to dig out and plant in your yard. I may know a couple of criminals that did this. You know who you are. The butterflies were still following me…well actually they’re following the Mountain Laurel. I visited what I think was Moore’s Wall, some big giant rock structures. I saw more great sights. And I had peace and quiet. Now I felt like I was on God’s great Earth with all of its beauty and wonder. The last stop before heading down was the fire tire (inside family joke). The fire tire…er… tower was a stone structure and offered fabulous views. I could even see Mount Pilot…I mean Pilot Mountain…from there. It was breezy on top and I welcomed this breeze since I was sweating like a pig. It wasn’t an overly hot day, maybe about 75. But after hiking all day it felt like 95.
I started down the trail and caught a few more views along the way. The path down had many steps. Going up steps is a good work out; Going down wrecks your knees. I took my time since I had plenty of it. I crossed a meandering little stream on the way back just before the campground. Then it was back to my car to climb way too many steps to use the pee house. It was a great 7ish-mile walk in the atrium today. Check out the cool spider web below.
Happy Mother’s Day to my favorite mom and grandma!
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