Waking up at 5 am, it was later than my usual 3 am waking time. It was a pretty cool morning, and we got moving over (I can’t drive), to Crowder's mountain. It’s about an hour away.
We took an open door, no roof Jeep. It was partially miserable, and as I start writing this... I am feeling quite cold and I’m getting this is going to be the hardest part of the day.
The trail as of now doesn’t look bad at all. It looks straight forward. Hopefully, my flashlight will do the trick as usual, but the trees might really dim the place down. Hopefully no animals.... I always nearly run into a deer or step on a rabbit.
Oh. And wait... I forgot to bring water.
Okay. Watered up. Great right. We get there. It’s closed. Well, I didn’t go because GI issues and so we went venturing to the closest gas station. They didn’t have a bathroom. Yet again another thirty minutes we go out.
Coming back to the spark, 7:30 am, we arrive. Park ranger shoes behind us, flashes their lights, comes out with a bullet proof vest, gun. Says show your hands. We of course were inside the cones, “trespassing.”
We were told to leave, as we did. And we now have a good 30 minutes to wait.
Trail was hot. Crowded trees, and muggy, started a bit too fast. I did not expect the top to be a complete staircase.