Climbing Up A Hill

Starting at the bottom, step by step.

I decided that I wanted to take advantage of the a beautiful Saturday during memorial day weekend and try my luck at hiking. I always wanted to visit state parks and find amazing views so I thought I would start off local. I have heard of Pine Grove Furnace State Park before from people I have worked with several times so I decided this would be a good start. This park is known for having a part of Appalachian Trail run through it as well a specific scenic route know as the Pole Steeple Lookout. So I set off in the morning and headed to the park to go on an adventure!

At the bottom of the hill I looked up the path and thought to myself this will be a piece of cake. I quickly discovered that the hike was on a little bit of an incline...that turned into a much greater incline. As I was sweating like a beast and realizing I left my water in the car at the bottom of the hill I thought I would be a tough guy and keep going. I mean it was that much farther up the hill right? I was quickly met with the first of what I would later realize as a glorious sight.

 

Sweet sweet glorious benchs! 

Being the tough guy as I am I walked right past the first bench before the first bend and kept going along thinking to myself  "I am almost there. Why stop now?" By the second much steeper incline when I saw this bench I sat my butt down an literally waited for my heart to calm the heck down. I was sweating it much more than earlier and no wooden bench felt more comfortable. Looking at it now maybe my butt cheeks were numb haha.

After continuing on and getting past by several families whose kids were clearly jacked up on sugar smacks or whatever sugar driven cereal they had earlier in the day I made it to the bottom of a smaller hill of which I could see the top is where the scenic view was. Excitement building I went up to the top and was met with a truly marvelous view.

A view at the top.

Stepping over the final rocks at the top of the hill I was met with a very amazing view on a much more beautiful day. Even though I was exhausted, without water and snack I honestly could care less. I sat up on top of the mountain and just took in the fresh air. No annoying neighbors. No crowds. Just me and a little slice of heaven.

What I took away from this experience.

Once again I really did not prepare enough in advance for this adventure. I took a backpack with me that worked out well but left the essentials of snack and water in the car. Besides that however I learned that even in your own back yard you can find amazing little slices of beauty. An hours drive from my apartment and a little work and you can too sit on top of a mountain on a beautiful day. This is definitely something that I really enjoyed doing overall and hope to continue.