Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “something you enjoyed.” Write about something you thoroughly enjoyed. Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!
We’ve had some wonderful weather here lately that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. The air is crisp and the sunshine has made blue, blue skies. My favorite place has turned golden.
Can you thoroughly enjoy something even though there’s a little fear, like when I step outside at night, usually with Marley, to look up at the stars. We have a fenced in yard, and there’s not much to be afraid of except I have such a vivid imagination. Still, the enjoyment definitely reigns supreme over the fear. That also applies to our most recent hike.
There’s enjoyment in knowing and sharing that I MET MY GOAL to hike the Pilot Knob Trail before my 70th birthday next month. We hiked the trail on Tuesday. The weather was perfect with highs in the mid 60s and plenty of sunshine.
The Pilot Knob Trail goes around the base of Pilot Mountain, aka, Jomeokee, which is a “metamorphic quartzite monadnock” sticking up out of the surrounding hill.
Jomeokee means “The Great Guide,” in Native American, likely the Saura tribe that lived in this area. You’re not allowed to climb the big pinnacle, which I might have tried in my 30s, but I enjoyed seeing and touching the rock. Rocks are cool. I collected them in my childhood and even now have a rock or two sitting around on a bookcase or in a dish with seashells in my house. I especially like the sparkly ones.
I thoroughly enjoyed touching and seeing the big rock formations and the views at around 2000 feet, as long as I stopped to look at them. The biggest challenge was not all the steps going up, or even down, but my fear of heights really kicked in when the trail narrowed and I looked out toward the horizon. I’ve always had a fear of heights, and it may be worse now since I have some dizziness issues. Fortunately, my balance is good from doing yoga, and I’ve done some dizziness exercises (need to do more.) I am also grateful for David’s patience and support. He kept asking me, “Where are your feet?” A good question for wandering minds with too much ample imagination. He asked what I was afraid of, and I realized I was afraid of falling. It helped when I actually looked at the nearby slopes and saw they were a little more gradual than my imagination imagined when I looked out in the distance.
David even offered to have me walk on the inside next to the rising walls of Jomeokee with him on the outside. I didn’t like the idea of him being that close to the edge even if the drops weren’t that sheer, but I took him up on it once or twice. David is amazingly fit for 68, plus he was walking Marley on a leash the whole hike. Thankfully Marley was a good boy – he’s about to be 10 this month! I assured David that I wasn’t going to freeze or anything like that. I knew I could do this. I just had to take my time and keep my eyes on the trail and my feet, leaning into Jomeokee when the trail narrowed. I could only look at the views if I stopped in a place where I felt safe which were available many times.
If I do this trail again, I want to have hiking poles and do it at a time when there aren’t so many people. This is peak time for the fall autumn colors, and there were busloads of school kids on the trail. I like kids, but they can be unpredictable. We stopped a lot to let groups pass us.
The gallery has a few photos from the approach and the south side of Jomeokee. I’ll share photos from the north face another time.
I think I’ll enjoy the autumn colors in my comfort zone for a while.
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