Stone Mountain
Since it's been 3 weeks since our last hiking adventure, Katie and I ventured into the woods. We picked a pretty close hike that was only thirty minutes away from our house because the weather wasn't supposed to be great anywhere, so we figured the closer it the trailhead is the earlier we can get started. Because of this, it was pretty low in elevation, starting a little over 5,000 feet. Since we didn't get somewhere higher or further in the mountains, we didn't escape the city heat very much, but that was okay since it only got in the upper 70's and stayed overcast for the majority of the hike. It even started sprinkling a little bit during the hike which was refreshing.
Katie was pretty tired and only made it about halfway before deciding to turn around at wait in the car, so for the last 2.5 miles of the hike up and entire way down I was hiking by myself. Her hike was about 4 miles and 1,000 feet in elevation gain, mine ended up being 8 and a half miles and 2,300 feet in elevation gain. It took me 2 hours longer than Katie for a total hike time just under 4 hours.
Compared to some of the other hikes we've done, this one wasn't all that memorable - the views at the top were okay, and there's weren't many spots that overlooked the trail. The trail is also pretty close to the road for the first several miles, so you don't really feel like you escaped civilization. The summit was a little bit of a scramble to get all the way to the top (hence why it's called Stone Mountain) which was a little bit of fun.
8.57 mi
3.9 hrs
7,539 ft
2,346 ft
Switchback
There were a lot of switchbacks on this trail. The whole 2300 feet of elevation is in the first 2.5 miles, so it's pretty much straight up.
Exhausted
We made it to the first mile marker and Katie was pretty exhausted.
Fake Smile
Katie smiled for me, even though she was pretty tired.
Into the Mountains
At this point, I was hiking by myself and I finally got far away enough from the road that I couldn't hear any of the vehicles.
Purple
The trail had quite a bit of wildflowers, even though it seems like it's getting late for wildflowers.
Stone Mountain
I imagine the mountain got it's name because the summit was literally a bunch of rocks that were pretty steep to climb.
Hiking Log
I found either a hiking log or a geocache at the summit of Stone Mountain. I opened up the jar to find just a log and a pencile, no other information. I had no idea that this photo was photo bombed by a bee until I looked at the photos on my computer.
