Those guys up top?
They were the founders of the Shining Rock Orienteering Society getting ready to push off for a three day backpack into the Shining Rock Wilderness.
You will note that they are all wearing rain gear. Foul weather did not deter them.
That was maybe 30 years ago.
Those jokers at the bottom?
Let’s just say they are the dregs of the once hallowed SHRO at the moment, just this morning, when they decided not to undertake a 4-mile hike to the top of Sam Knob (near Shining Rock) because…
…well, it was raining. And windy. And cold.
In our defense….
…well, did I mention that it was raining? And windy? And cold?
Plus we are, more or less, 30 years older than that time some for us fearlessly donned rain gear and shouldered our 40-pound backpacks and plunged into the wilderness – there to encounter unimaginable pain and suffering and even the risk of catching a cold.
But I digress. Back to those jokers…
A funny thing happened as we got back into the car and began to slink our way back down the Blue Ridge Parkway and out of the Pisgah National Forest to the warmth and comfort of the cabin.
Of a sudden the clouds parted. And the rain stopped. And the sun burst through.
It was too late to turn around and go back to the Sam Knob Trailhead.
So we decided to make the trek up Mount Pisgah Trail to the giant tower at its summit.
Certainly not a three day wilderness ordeal.
Not even four miles to the 6,045-foot Sam Knob lookout.
Rather we settled for a 3-mile, Everest-like, quest that would take us up a 712-ft ascent to Mount Pisgah’s 5,721-ft peak.
I’m here to tell you, friends and neighbors…
That was the toughest 712 feet I’ve ever climbed. Even without a backpack.
Half of our once-hearty expedition of four orienteerers turned back well before the summit.
P.S. The descent from Mount Pisgah was less strenuous but more painful that the climb up. Turns out that gravity is no friend to 75-year-old knees.
But Buddy and I made it.
Coincidently we were among the original Orienteers who defied the Shining Rock Wilderness 30 years ago and lived to tell the tale.
We’ve still got it?
FreeGNV 