Climb Every Mountain

What do you do to relax?  Me, I like to climb mountains!  It's called climbing, but it isn't really, it is  just walking but I am glad that I am still able to do it.  My husband is doing much better these days and we are trying to exercise as much as possible so we climbed Arabia Mountain today. I hope to be able to show you that walk soon but these photos are from our climb up Stone Mountain and these were taken in early March of this year on a breezy, cool day. 

This is our son walking up ahead of us and one must be very careful since these rocks can become very slick.  These are mostly pines that have grown there and they make some lovely shadows on the pathway, but the needles themselves can be slippery.

Whoo, boy, okay just when we get to this point, I always like to go right here, just behind that big pine tree and take some photos of the view.  To tell the truth,  I am struggling to catch my breath! But wait, look ahead there, can you see the steepest part is yet to come?

My husband went ahead of me and took this photo of me climbing and holding on the railing.  That handrail was installed a few years ago, and it makes me wonder if there were one too many falls there and that is why they did it.  Years ago, I didn't need it, but I am grateful for it now!

 Okay, here we are at the top. No, that isn't us.  You never know who you will see on top of the Stone Mountain. This was a man who obviously works as Santa Claus during the Christmas season with his actual Mrs., I presume.  On a very clear day, you can see for miles and miles and it is wonderful to be overlooking all that surrounds you.

 Oh my, someone had to chew gum, but at least someone else stomped it into the ground into a shape of a heart.  I am always seeing heart shapes so I will try not to show too many but it seems they are everywhere I look...  This does show the composition of the mountain which is granite.  It was quarried a good bit, I'm afraid, but not as much as the next mountain that will be in another post, Arabia Mountain.

This is the carving on the front of Stone Mountain.  I know it is an amazing thing, it is incredibly large and took years for them to complete it, but honestly, I wish they had left it in its natural state.  It just seems wrong to me to carve into something so magificently beautiful.  The big attraction at night at Stone Mountain is a laser show which is played upon that carving with amplified music.  My husband took this photo, he really liked the blue sky above the mountain with the little white cloud and cedar.

There, how about this photo of this nice young man on top of the mountain with the Atlanta skyline just behind him?  This has been described as looking as if you are on the moon.  Perhaps so but the air is better!  There is almost always a breeze blowing and sometimes it can be quite strong.   One can also get to the top by taking a skylift or cable car, as my husband calls it.  He reminds me that it played a large part in the filming of the movie "Fled" with Samuel Jackson and one of the Baldwin brothers.  Not one I've seen myself but perhaps I will just to see what parts in the background that I can recognize.  One can always tell which group of people have climbed up the mountain ... the windswept, sweaty ones are the climbers and the ones who look as if they are about to pose in a photography studio are the cable car riders!

There are other trails that we enjoy there.  The Cherokee Trail is about 5 miles long and it goes around the mountain underneath some beautiful hardwood trees and it even goes up one side of the mountain and crosses over the one mile walk up trail.  When the leaves turn in the Autumn, this trail is the one not to be missed.  Hopefully, we will be able to go back to Stone Mountain in a few weeks and maybe enjoy some of the Fall colors then.  Until then, you know I had to do it...