hanging rock hike

yes. five days ago, we had 5" of snow on the ground.

well, this morning i stepped out of the apartment in a t-shirt and shorts into 77 degree weather! it was glorious. jonathan and i climbed into the car next to the spot where we had built the snowman (the one in the blue hat below) and there was still about a snowball size chunk of him still melting. THAT is how close together these completely opposite weather days were.

we decided to make the most of this premature spring day by finally going on a hike together. the whole last summer, with tons of closeby hiking trails to explore, we never went hiking in NC. nor did we go camping. the only hiking we did was up in virginia at peaks of otter...which was quite amazing. that is, until, i severely rolled my ankle at the tail end of the hike...as you can see! don't worry, its all better now!

i was a little more careful today, keeping this injury in mind. anyway, we decided to drive about 45 minutes north of us to hanging rock. of course, we got a little turned around on the way because my iphone which was giving directions died, but we made it. being a little higher in elevation, there was still quite a bit of snow piled up in shady spots in the parking lot up there. again, it shows the craziness of the weathr this week.

we hiked down a couple different trails...saw some small waterfalls and cool rock outcroppings. we ate our subs at the picnic area before we went on the long hike. seemed like everyone else in the state had the same idea as us. beautiful springlike day: go hike at hanging rock. seriously, everybody and their dog was out. lots of dogs. big, small, tiny. all varieties. i can't wait til i have my puppy to take hiking!

anyway, it was quite a lengthy hike, but the view up there was incredible. tons of people were up there and it was almost difficult to just find a place to sit down. the breeze felt awesome up there. i was suprised to see a little maltease all the way at the top...i was tired from the mile and a half hike up there, i'm sure he was exhausted!

but we had lots of fun and plan to check out pilot mountain nearby in the future! i love warm weather!!!