The hike up the mountain was noted as "strenuous" on the map. Walking through the woods on a gentle incline I thought to myself, "Strenuous? HA! This is easy."

Yeah, right, easy. That was just before we hit the first of several long, steeply inclined slabs of slick granite. Even then, going up was not nearly as gut-wrenching as coming down. The granite just continues, getting steeper and steeper off-trail, often becoming vertical. It was important to stay on the trail.

There was one area I dubbed "the moon" because the granite was pocked with large craters that held water from a rain storm the day before our visit.

It was amazingly beautiful at the top, as you can see from the picture to the right. I could have stayed there for hours. There were a half-dozen large birds swirling and diving in the thermal updrafts. The spouse kindly identified them as "Buzzards!" I think "ravens" would have fit the mood a bit better.