Last day of summer, and it was a beautiful 66 degrees on the summit. Autumn was in the air. Lost Mountain lives up to its name. It’s more an upland than a freestanding mountain, hidden away and mostly located in state game land # 158, Cambria County, Pennsylvania. The lower reaches with their young piney woods and grassy meadows might be rehabilitated coal fields. But as you get higher, the meadows give way to beautiful, mature forests. A narrow gravel lane runs three miles straight uphill to the top from the tiny village of Blandburg. It gets narrower and more disused as you get higher. A gruesome murder was committed on this pleasant little road in 2006. As with many mountains in these parts, there’s a derelict fire tower at the very top. I call it The Tower of Terror. Old and worn with dangerous wooden stairs, the tower was actually shaky. Only a fool would climb it—which thing I did three times today… But never to the top. I chickened out twice before finally forcing myself as high as the fourth landing, just above the treetops. The cabin at the top of the tower surely has great views, but I only made it halfway up.