Black Mountain
November 10th, 2018

7:18a I started at about 6:45 this morning, I wanted to finish this mountain before work at 11a. The trail is covered in snow and even as I write this the snow is still falling. The only sounds to be heard are the streams running by and the wind blowing through the trees. I am about a mile in, so halfway, and have only been out here for a half an hour or so. It's so cold that in order to write I need to hold my glasses in my mouth or else they fog up when I breath.

7:48a I know people say you can never wear too many layers but, OH MY GOD, I am sweating and there is so much water running down this mountain, it’s crazy! I’ve gone through like 4 deep puddles and jumped across 2 rivers. I am not sure how much longer but I hope it is soon.

8:20a So believe it or not, I am not even 20 feet from where I wrote my last entry. I did walk a good .2 miles before noticing that I did not have my glasses. I ended up walking back the .2 miles to where I thought I had stopped only to not find them anywhere. Then I realized on my break I had peed but where I was, there was no marking of pee in the snow. So I walked another 20 ft back and there they were face down in the snow. Yay!

9:18a After about 5 minutes of debating I decided to walk back down. Too many things made the trek that far up undesirable and I did not want to continue.
-Mud up to my ankles in some places.
-If it wasn’t mud it was slush.
-It was dark and lonely.
Of course, as I reach the car and start writing this the sun comes out and people start hiking the trail. I also did not give myself enough time to enjoy this hike. I started at 6:45a and had to be back to my car by 10. I don’t want to rush my hikes, I want to enjoy them, especially the Fire Towers. I will try again soon.









Black Mountain
November 14th, 2018

9:19a I started my adventure around 8:50a this morning as I started the hike a hunter was just on his way out, had his rifle and camo on, nearly gave me a heart attack. The forest has been making weird noises today, a few seconds before I sat down I heard what sounded like a girl screaming. Now it is just a lot of moaning from the trees.

10:40a With determination, I powered through and reached the summit at 10:30a. The gate to the fire tower is locked. As I approached the summit I kept hearing a roaring sound, turns out there is a wind turbine up here that sounds just like a local wooden roller coaster (The Comet). I am not looking forward to the hike down, it is a long hike down and very icy.

12:50p After getting back down to my car I have to say Black Mountain is so far my least favorite mountain. The view is terrible and the trail is 90% river. On the way back down I lost my walkie-talkie and couldn't find it. There is a ball of snow n the bottom of my hiking stick the size of a tennis ball. I have decided there are only 5 cases where I would do this hike again:
-If my wife wants to
-If my kids want to
-If a new challenge comes up
-Winter Challenges
-Ultra challenges.