Moore's Knob Loop Trail

After many, and I mean MANY hours of searching for a trail for today, we decided on Moore's Knob Trail in Hanging Rock State Park.  About 1.5 hours away.  We get up, eat breakfast and head out.



S on the trail
 

Okay, I thought all park rangers in the Visitor's Center are supposed to be nice.  This one wasn't.  We got a map and I was looking at the one under glass on the counter.  He asked which route we were taking and was quick to inform us there was 900 steps to that one.  The inner fat chick was like, "So what?  You don't think this heffer can make it?"

We head over to the trail and start out...or at least we thought we were.  Come to find out we were following a trail from a group area to the parking lot.  LOL  So,,,trail head round 2.  There's a short trail to the actual trail head. Once we arrived, we headed left and were glad we did.


My Mountain Man S!

It was very rustic and a steep trail.  Parts were very narrow and we could tell that this part wasn't used all that often.  We climbed up and over many rocks.  It was about a 900 foot elevation gain in about 2.5 miles.

Once I finally got my insoles sorted out, we did a good pace climbing over the rocks and heading to the summit.  Just when we thought we were finished, we found out we weren't.  *sigh*  So, we trudged on.  My legs were getting pretty sore and I was spouting off about this being fat hiker hell.  It's a never ending climb.  S said, "Buns of steel!"  Me, "Nope!  This is hell!  You just keep climbing and it does nothing for the flabby ass!"  There were several scenic stops.  All the while, S kept commenting how the view would be better if it wasn't for the trees.

We stopped for lunch a little after 11.  My feet were started to hurt a bit.  We kept hearing woodpeckers on different hollow trees making different pitches.  There were also other bird calls I couldn't make out.  I think it was the black birds prevalent on the mountain.  I couldn't identify it to save my life.

At one of the scenic stops, there was this crag that S climbed up into.  He convinced me that I needed to do the same...here's the picture.  It wasn't all that easy for this hiking heffer to get her arse up into that crag, but it was cool when I did.


After another short stint, we reached the summit.  OH MY!  It was beautiful!!  A full 360 view of the area.  We could see Pilot Mountain (aka Nipple Mountain according to me), several other chains of mountains; it was breathtaking!  There was a lookout tower to climb for a completely unobstructed view of the area.  It was well worth the rough climb!  Words cannot describe...

 So, here are some pictures...There are more, but I just couldn't see fit to post ALL of them here.  I mean, a girl's gotta save somethings for herself.



As we came down from the lookout, I noticed that the rock surrounding the tower was all shiny!  I'm guessing it was part pyrite?  It was gold type shiny I got distracted...  *snort*

Shiny rock that's not so shiny here.

 The trip down was not so rugged.  900 some odd stairs down...at least I think that's what the "nice" ranger meant.  We stopped a few more times as the steps were irritating my feet.  I step toe first going down stairs. *shrugs*  We stopped about halfway when I REALLY had to pee!  I.CAN.NOT squat.  My knees won't let me.  I have to learn.  If it was a complete emergency, that's a different story.  But knowing a restroom is within walking distance, I waited.

Finally arriving at the car, we stopped at the visitor's center so I could pee and we headed "home."  We stopped at a grill and tobacco shop for fuel....the edible kind.  We were hungry!  I had good barbecue and fries.  S had a burger.  We bought t-shirts then went back to the cabin so Missy could be country dog again.