Lost on a Mountain Top

Many years ago, I was about 8-10 at the time, we went to Hanging Rock State Park in North Carolina. It was a great swimming spot fairly near our home. Ok, about an hour, but it was worth the drive.

After swimming for a little while one day we decided to hike up to the top of the mountain and actually see the famous Hanging Rocks. We still have yet to see those rocks except in pictures.

On this particular hike, we hiked often, it was just Dad, me, my two sisters. This was exciting because without Mom and the baby we could go much farther and faster. I am not saying anything mean about my Mom, just that pesky baby. Yeah, you know who you are.

So, with much excitement we headed out on the open trail. And a great trail it was. Well marked, wide and clear. We made good time for at least 15-30 minutes, but by this time the trail was not so well marked. You could still tell where the path was, though.

We were having a great time climbing over boulders on the side of the path and noticing all kinds of cool things. Then we noticed a path that went sharply up and to the right. I don’t guess it really was a path at all but it was a way to get up the cliff on our right and climbing is a lot more fun than walking. Besides, if we could get higher, we might be able to see further up the path and discover a short cut.

But, we could not see very far even from up high because the mountain was covered with trees, so we headed back down to the main trail. We had been walking parallel to the trail on the cliff above for a while and it did not make sense to go all the way back. I did suggest that we turn sharp to the left and back-track part of the way but the climb down was pretty rough that direction. Dad suggested a safer route that the girls could handle that lead us back to the path well ahead of where we had veered off.

We never saw the path again.

Image via Wikipedia

When we got to where the path should have been, there was no signs of a human having ever been there. So we went a little further down the hill, all the time angling back to the right hoping that when we did find the path we would at least be closer to our destination.

And so we trudged on for 5 hours. After a while we realized that we had missed the trail, and were just hoping to get to the foot of the mountain and find a city, house, road, anything but trees. Especially not magnolia trees. I am not sure really if it was the magnolias’ fault or something else in the area. I have since smelled another tree that had the same awful smell, but at one point in our long hike, we walked through a grove of magnolias and that is the only trees I remember seeing in that area. Let me tell ya, that stunk like nothing I had ever smelled before. I have never cared much for magnolia since.

Eventually we did find a road, and some kind driver picked us up and took us back to our car. It was fun, but it was probably the most exhausting day of my childhood until a year or two later when we moved to Tennessee and I got to carry furniture, appliances, and hundreds of boxes all in one day. But, that is another story.

So what did I learn from my stroll through the the woods? Well for one thing, I learned that my dad has no sense of direction. Other than that? Well, let’s see:

• I learned that sometimes shortcuts are not always short.
• Sometimes the easy route can be really tough.
• Once you wander of the trail, you may have to go all the way back and start over.
• Getting distracted along the way might mean you never reach your destination. Make sure the distraction is worth it.
• And most importantly, I learned that magnolias stink.

Related posts:

1. There's Gold in Them Thar Hills
2. A cliff and a field of thorns
3. Story – Chapter 1 – Part 1
4. It's All Down-Hill From Here
5. Climb every mountain