I was going to go for a #wednesdaywalk today but I woke up with a headache and decided to pass on that and edit photos from last week's walk.
Last week I headed down the highway to Berea, Kentucky to hike the Pinnacles and see if I could catch some of the fall colors. Anybody know what time dusk is? Me neither. Probably should ask the bear...
The trail is in a private forest owned by Berea College just a little ways outside of town. There's actually two pinnacles, east and west, along with various other points and lookouts atop the ridge.
The trail is a five mile or so loop with the going being a bit steep until you get near the top of the ridge. Once you make it up top it's levels out a good bit.
For some reason the couple that set out just ahead of me felt that this lovely bit of nature was a bit lacking in the shitty country music department. Fortunately they'd brought along a portable speaker and remedied this rather loudly. Note to self: Add firecrackers to hiking gear
A fork in the trail allowed me to part ways with the auditory litterbugs and once I was certain they were heading east I headed to the Indian Fort lookout.
There was a bit to see...
Highest elevation on the trail is around 1500 feet above sea level. Not sure how high the cliffs I was standing on were though.
*Pretty sure I can see my house from here...
Step in the crack, break ya back! This was the only concession to safety that I encountered. Wonder what happened to get them to put the bars there in the first place?
Once I'd had my fill of the lookout I headed for the East Pinnacle. Much easier going than the first leg of the hike.
I've been here a few other times to shoot the fall colors but it always ended up being grey and overcast. This time that was not the case at all, and the bright sun helped make up for the cool temperatures (50s F).
As I drew close to the pinnacle I started to be able to hear something other than the breeze. Sonuvabitch! The country-playing cretins had beaten me there. Why do we not have man-portable EMP weapons yet?
I cough in your general direction! I may not be French but that seemed to work...
There were several vultures circling below me, which was a bit different.
I may or may not have lost track of time and taken lots of photos...
Eventually the sun sank low enough that I noticed and still nary a notion as to when dusk actually was I took my leave of the pinnacle and headed downhill.
Kept having to stop and shoot 'just a little bit more!' Somehow my SD cards ended up full and I had to delete some just to snap these last shots.
As I got back to the trailhead I came upon something that might have come in handy earlier...
Oh well, still a lovely hike.