Miles 456-463: A Walk in the Woods

Well, hello there! As you can see - Saturday we broke from our norm.

For the first time in over nine months, I present to you, a catalog of WALKING! on Would Rather Walk. Or Run.

It seems a little silly that it has taken so long to write about the pleasure of travelling by foot, but - in all honesty - my present home is not very conducive to walking. (For starters, there are very few sidewalks.)

With fall in the air and a strong urge to flock to the hills, James and I headed northwest to Pilot Mountain State Park just north of Winston-Salem to hike, hopefully spy some wildlife, and lay eyes on the rocky crag most people passing liken to The Earth's Nipple.

I had read that during summer and autumn the parking lot near the Little Pinnacle Overlook became extremely crowded during peak hours of 11-6. Since our goal was not just to see the sight but to actually hike, an easy solution was to park at the southern most point of the park and hike the Mountain Trail (2.5ish mile one way) up the mountain.

It ended up being an excellent choice, as we only passed three other hikers along the way. The top, as predicted, was a different story. People of all shapes and sizes made their way from the parking lot to the Little Pinnacle Overlook, scrambling up big rocks to get a glimpe of Pilot Mountain.

I sweated profusely, my heels and big toes blistered, my fingers swelled - but the woods were quiet. We saw a wild turkey sprint up the ravine; I heard and spotted a downy woodpecker; yellow and red leaves fell all around us.

There is a high that I get when hiking that is similar to and yet apart from a runner's high. The endorphins are there, the zen feel of the flow is there, but there is also something more - your senses are sharper.  You are aware that you are a small moving biped in a big, big wood.

Miles 456-463: Roundtrip hiking punctuated by a Honeyrcrisp apple. Fall hiking at its best.