Busy Day on the Rock
Many people decided, like me, to visit Table Rock on lovely spring day. But not everyone was going to the summit, where I revisited the amazing view from this landmark of the Golden Corner.
On the first weekend of April, I decided to head up to the Table Rock summit again. Last time, it was in the middle of autumn, but this time, spring was just starting to make itself felt. So, the foliage wasn’t as lush as before, and the weather still had a little bit of a chill in it. This 3.5 mile hike up the mountain is relatively challenging, although the downward trip is a bit more taxing on my aging knees.
It was a very busy weekend, to be sure. For some reason, lots of groups took the day to hike up. Probably the weather, because it was gorgeous out. First thing I noticed, after the many groups hanging out near the trailhead was that park officials now require folks to register in the office, not at the kiosk, as usual. This office was monitored by a park ranger who made sure hikers filled out the cards. I’m not sure why that is, unless they found that few people actually registered. I always do, even for the short hikes, but I guess I’m kind of a rule-follower.
Freshly registered, I headed off (although I sorely underestimated how long I’d be on the trail; a bit optimistic). Along the trail, I met various groups and individuals heading up. There were church groups, small families, school groups, and a group of Spanish-speaking middle-to-high school boys who seemed to be having a great time. I got to share the 1.5-mile shelter with the group of boys for a while, as I took pictures and a breather. I have no idea what most of the conversation was about, because except for a few scattered English phrases, it was mostly in Spanish. My Spanish is woefully inadequate for such a task.
Most of this trip was like the last one, although this time I didn’t drop a water bottle as I hung out at Governor’s Rock for a few minutes. I decided, like last time, to continue on past the summit to the same overlook. This time, it wasn’t so sparsely populated. The group of boys, who had flown on past some time ago, were sitting spread out in a line across most of the overlook. I still wanted to get some pictures, so I opted to wait them out. I ended up doing a fair amount of reading while I waited, but they eventually went on, and I jumped up while the space was open and snapped a few. There was a father and son there, and we joked a little about how quiet it seemed without the boys, and I took their picture for them. Apparently, one was visiting the other, and wanted a photo to remember.
I got a little turned around leaving the overlook, but I found my way back to the trail and headed downwards. The trip down made me glad I started out as early as I did, because there were even more people coming up this time. A bright spot was that just after I was coming down a treacherous area on the far side of Governor’s Rock, I happened across the instructor for a watercolor class I took last fall. We had a nice chat, before she and her hiking companion headed up toward the summit. I also passed by what appeared to be a couple of Boy Scout troops and many others. If I had been looking for solitude, that was not the day.
A couple of listening highlights on the trail: Clarkesworld and Pseudopod. On the Clarkesworld podcast was the second installment of The Long Goodnight of Violet Wild by Catherynne M. Valente. Very weird, but fascinating, stuff. Definitely listen to the first one before the second one, or you’ll be even more in the dark, because it’s a very different and inventive world for these stories. On Pseudopod, the horror podcast of the Escape Artists series of audio magazines, was Twitcher, by David Tallerman. Eerie apocalyptic stuff, and worth a listen.
