Quiet Time for Reflection

FORT MOUNTAIN STATE PARK - CAMPING, RUNNING, EXPLORING, THINKING

So, this past Eater weekend I bachelored it and needed something different to do and didn't want to sit around the house all weekend.  Fort Mountain has some pretty significant significance with me and from time to time I just like to go up there for an escape from reality.  If you get a backcountry permit you can literally escape reality and people, and about 985 miles of trail are open for you as long as you tell the ranger where you think you might be going.
So, where did I go?
All over the place.
Where didn't I go?

Hilly.

I must eat your head.

One of the places I ran to was the top of the power lines.  From Chatsworth you can see that there is a fire tower on top of the mountain and, well, I've always wanted to climb it.  When I got close enough to the tower to really get a good look at it I saw that it was covered in antennas.
"Crap, I'm not going to be able to get to it."
Guess what?  It was fenced off with barbed wire and had some warning signs up around it...something about loss of life...excess radio emissions...the FAA...and just a bunch of other crap.  I wasn't feeling my normal self so I stayed out and took a seat in the sun on a railroad tie retaining wall and thought for a while.

Loss of life from...

I like the old timey look of this sign.

Well, sitting around was fun!  Now, what was I going to do?  EXPLORE!  I took the road down to the 301 and ran up to the awesome overlook place, via many side trails and poison ivy patches, where I then decided I would work on my tan.  I must have laid on the bench for an hour until some woman and her kid came up.  He was asking if horses were unicorns with out their corn.  It was time for me to leave.

Where did I lose my corn?

At the park entrance I decided to run down the Pinhoti Connector Trail to the Pinhoti Trail.  Well, after about an hour of running I had no idea if I made it to the trail or not...AND to make things more exciting I stopped because of a loud crashing noise in the dense brush a couple hundred feet away and a distinct powerful wet-dog sort of smell.  Umm...I had no visual confirmation of what it was but I have a good idea...especially from the crap I had been seeing in the trail in the immediate area.
Did I make it to the Pinhoti?
I asked my friend Perry the other day and he confirmed that I had, and that I had been running on it for a while.  I just had no clue.  I guess this section isn't marked that well at all.

After my bit of exploration I decided to head on back and turn in my permit...it was getting on past 5:00 and I wanted to set everything up for the evening.  But first, I ran up to the North Overlook to overlook the scenery.

North Overlook.

After overlooking I figured I'd share some pictures and commenced to sending out via text.  Talk about crappy reception!  I had to run around finding a place where I could get a signal, and eventually found one at the mountain bike parking lot.
Walking around up there I found this cool building.  Wondering what was inside I decided to open the door.  Now, you would not believe what I found inside...corns...unicorn corns...OK, maybe not.  Maybe it was just full of hay and softball-sized black widows.  OK, maybe it was just full of hay and some cobwebs.  And cobras.

What's inside...

In all honesty, I wonder what this building was used for.

Easter morning it was my mission to run the Gahuti.  That's what I did.  Why didn't I go to church?  I just wasn't in the mood.  So, I spent some time with God on the trail.  A friend of mine once told me that he would rather be on the trails thinking about God than in church thinking about the trails...hmmm...makes sense to me...

Onward!

Relief.

So, what did I get from the weekend?
Rest and time to think.
It was quiet.
It was kind of lonely.
It was happy and sad.
It was mentally and physically trying.
I thought a lot.

Fort Mountain Lake.