An AMAZING hike!

On Saturday I went on a hike that will produce stories for years to come. My good friend Rick and I had planned to hike this day several weeks ago. On Friday afternoon we realized there was a 30-50% chance of rain in the afternoon. We both decided to stay with our plans and risk getting a little wet.

We arrived and started our hike to the top of Table Rock around 9:30am. On the trail, Rick was doing a great job pointing out all the roots and stumps to me so that I wouldn't fall. The ones he failed to point out, he stumbled on. The weather was a bit cool Saturday morning, somewhere in the 50's. I was wearing jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt. I had another shirt in my pack in case it got any colder. Rick was wearing a button up, collared, short sleeve shirt and jeans. I'm not sure who dressed him to hike in a shirt suitable for church, but he was the best dressed hiker we would see all day. The cold weather was no issue for us once we got going. In fact, we were sweating and I complained about carrying the weight of an extra shirt.

We were about thirty minutes up a two hour ascent when we first heard thunder. Not much later we saw some lighting and the sky got darker. After one especially close lightning strike, we stopped and looked around. We talked about turning back, but neither one of us was willing to be the cause of missing the goal and we pushed on. As the lightning continued to strike, one group of hikers that we had passed early on had turned back. It wasn't raining yet, but we knew it would be soon. The sky continued getting darker and the thunder louder. I didn't want to turn back, but I worried that some areas of the rock would become very slick in the rain.We wouldn't know it until we got home, but here is the message that was put out by the National Weather Service (restated on the local news):

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WYFF4.com
updated 9:53 a.m. ET, Sat., March. 29, 2008
GREENVILLE, S.C. - A severe thunderstorm warning was issued just before 9:30
a.m. for parts of the Upstate. The warning area includes Transylvania County in
western North Carolina, southeastern Jackson County in western North Carolina
and northern Pickens County, northwestern Greenville County in and northeastern
Oconee County in the Upstate.
The warning is expected to expire at 10:15
a.m. Doppler radar indicated a severe thunderstorm capable of producing penny
size hail.
People in the path of this severe thunderstorm should be alert
for large hail and damaging winds.
Frequent
lightning and locally heavy rain can occur with any thunderstorm. Seek shelter
indoors away from windows and doors until the storm passes.
Although large
hail to the size of pennies is the main threat with this severe thunderstorm,
brief damaging winds could also occur.

As we passed the half way up mark, it started raining. It didn't take long to start raining very hard. Our trail turned into a small river from the water rushing down the mountain. Every step was calculated to avoid the deep puddles and slick mud. We were both soaked to the bone as we neared the summit. It had taken more than two hours of climbing and hiking in this downpour to make it.

A small pile of rocks mark the highest spot on the hill. As I approached the pile, I picked up a stone and added it to the pile.

I risked getting my camera out in the rain and snapped these two shots from the top.

The lightning and thunder had left us but the rain continued. The air turned noticeably colder and the clouds engulfed the top of the mountain. A thick fog moved in and covered the ground. I suggested we walk out along the top of the mountain. Looking back, I'm not sure why I did that because the only reason to walk out there is for the view it offers. Rick agreed and we followed the trail another half mile in the rain. On the way back to the summit area we had to hike back uphill. He didn't do it, but I am pretty sure Rick was looking to kick some mud on me for having him climb uphill one more time. We were both wore out and had several miles of down hill hiking ahead of us.
My hands were numb from the cold as we started moving down hill. The hike we had planned was a relaxing hike. We planned on enjoying the amazing scenes around us, the singing birds, and the fresh air. Instead we were focused on not slipping in the mud, we were soaking wet, tired, and shivering in the cold air.

Roughly at the half way area there is a small shelter that we agreed to stop at for lunch.
Within fifteen minutes, my entire body had become cold. Rick joked that our body temperatures were falling below a survivable level. We cut our break short so that we could keep moving and warm up. We daydreamed of being in the car with the heat running as motivation to keep going.

As we neared the end of our hike in the rain, we saw several other hikers. A father and son that looked just as unprepared as we, a couple of guys in rain gear, and two young guys in jackets. At the end of the trail, there was a family enjoying the park. The mom stood up and looked at us as we emerged from the trail. She gave us a look like we were crazy. Maybe she was just checking out Rick's nice button up, but I think it was the fact that we probably looked as if we had been up there a week.

Sitting in the car, Rick turned the heat on high. I slouched in the seat for a moment as I thought about what we had just done. Anyone else would have turned back long before reaching the top in those conditions. Most would have complained about the miserable and dangerous weather. Not Rick. We enjoyed the experience together. We had talked and laughed the whole way. Rick and I had just completed an amazing hike that we will never forget.