I'm still recovering from this hike! Not so much from my sore calves but more so from all the bee stings! If you hike with trekking poles, be careful where you poke them. My hiking partner, Dante, mistakenly stuck his pole in a bee hole on the side of the trail and since I was directly behind him I got attacked. And, of course, I forgot to replace my Benadryl pills in my First Aid Kit, but luckily I had some generic allergy pills. The older you get and the more you've been stung the more you're allergic to stings. And all of this happened at the very beginning of the hike!

Oh well. To say the least, the hike improved greatly as we reached our first overlook. It was amazing how quiet it was looking out over the valley. All you could hear was a lone dog barking in the distance. Being August, there was still alot of tree cover that made it hard to see from the ridge we were on but the breeze still got through to help cool us down on a hot summer day. We were definitely fortunate when it came to weather that day - mostly sunny in the 70's.

Next trip, I'm packing a better lunch and bringing more drinks. The 'Elvis' sandwich (peanut butter & banana) was not that great looking after being smushed in my pack. And I polished off my sports drink pretty quick huffing it up the hillsides. To make my hunger worse, we spoke with a cyclist in the parking lot near the top of Brasstown Bald who had just eaten a hot dog from the General Store. I refused to buy one because I'm bad to eat more calories than I burn on alot of my outdoor adventures.

After reaching the more crowded tourist section (there's a road from the bottom) near the summit, we finished the last 1/2 mile on a paved trail. I'm an odd character when it comes to occupying my mind on long hikes/climbs; I like to track my time. I usually average 2+ miles per hour in the mountains and in trying to keep on track I started humping it up the trail to get to the summit on time. Dante wasn't too thrilled about my sudden burst of speed, but I had a Clif Bar waiting for him at the Viewing Platform on top. FYI - the 12.5 mile round trip took us 3 hours & 15 minutes going up and 2 hours & 10 minutes going down including breaks & sting care.

When I reached the trailhead where my 'Monster' truck (a story for another time) was parked, it was a great feeling of accomplishment to get in such a great hike with a friend on a beautiful day with awesome views when the night before I was doubting that I'd make it to the top. It just shows you that time flies when you're having fun and spending time in the Great Outdoors is always better than sitting at home on the couch - minus the bee stings.

Happy Trails!

Kevin Crowe