Strawberry Blonde Photography

Early in our relationship Joey and I both fell in love with hiking together. For us, hiking is an easy and low cost way to get outdoors, get some exercise, grow closer together, have a large variety of new experiences and escape the realities of daily life. This past weekend we set out for what we knew was going to be one of the most strenuous hikes that we had ever completed. We were looking at over 5 hours and about ten mountainous, rock filled miles of hiking as we hoped to complete the Table Rock Trail in South Carolina along with parts of the Pinnacle Trail. Joey had a plan, as always, and prepared for the resting spots along the trail while making sure we had enough water in our packs. He researched everything available and got us both new walking sticks on our way in. I packed my bag, braided my hair so I wouldn’t have to worry with it and went on my happy little way, excited to follow Joey wherever he went without a single hesitation until the moment that we had to “sign in” at the front of the trail. We have hiked our fair share of trails but we have never had to sign in. I hesitated but ultimately figured it was probably a good idea, after all, for someone to know we were out in the wilderness. Now I regularly update my dad with texts and photos but the reality is that at 74 years old and two and a half hours away… the check in card would probably be more helpful in case of an emergency. I contemplated personal emergencies of broken bones and at worst case a snake bite and came to the conclusion, even being the chicken that I am, that the adventure was worth the risk.

Here we are at check in, all fresh faced and excited for an adventure. Joey studying the map one last time and me snapping pictures.

The notes we read said that the trail was strenuous, I’d say that I agree. I just crossed over the hill to forty last month and I don’t know if it’s my age or the mountain but for the first time in my life my joints ached in places I’d never really even noticed before. The view at the top of the mountain was beautiful, just as everyone who passed us on the way down promised. The way up was rough on the cardio end and the way back down was rough on your joints but there really is something to be said for pushing through when things are hard. It felt good to accomplish such a hike and sit on the literal mountain top. We decided to hike on over to the pinnacle trail but first, here we are enjoying the Table Rock accomplishments.

We were pretty tired at that point but after a short break we felt ready to tackle the Pinnacle Trail. We noticed pretty early on that the trail seemed somewhat overgrown and there was no one around. We finally came up to one other couple coming towards us who said the trail was great and encouraged us to keep going. We hiked a while longer through the tiny trail overgrown with weeds and limbs before Joey saw what he thought might be a bear. We paused and realized it it was just a large black stump but between that, the fact that we hadn’t seen any other hikers for almost an hour and an early morning warning from a fellow hiker about a snake on the trail, we stayed pretty on pretty high alert (I was also a little weary of bumping into Brian Laundrie because I’ve been sucked into that case). I have no idea how much longer we hiked before we both noticed a super funky smell. We laughed and wondered aloud if it was a skunk and reminisced about the time a skunk literally ran between my bike tires during a trail ride. I asked Joey if we should be worried that maybe the skunk had something to be scared of that would make it spray but we decided against the idea and hiked on. By this point my joints started to ache pretty badly so I told Joey to slow our pace so that I could walk a little more easily. Around that time I noticed Joey slowed his pace a lot. He started looking off to the side and we both heard a clicking like noise. I watched joeys every move and tried to start talking a little louder thinking that I wanted whatever Joey heard and/or saw to know that we were coming near so we wouldn’t startle it but before I could get out a few words, Joey stopped cold. He turned around and looked, with his big brown eyes wide and serious right into my now terrified eyes, “we have to turn around, let’s go back.” His face said everything and there was no need to explain, I immediately turned and while I knew logically that I should not run…. my legs had their own ideas and started for an escape. Only a few strides in I heard him say “don’t run” and I knew he was right but keeping my legs at a speed walk was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. All I could think was that we had children to get home to and I did not want to die by bear attack. I walked the most brisk walk that these achy joints could muster and I was all but ready to just fling myself in a roll down the mountain into that concrete parking lot among the company of other humans, any humans I didn’t even care who. As we made our way, Joey directly behind me, I asked if he had his knife. He said that he did have the knife and followed that up by telling me not to worry and reasssuring me that we were okay. I knew he was trying to make me feel better but the look on his face a few minutes before betrayed the confidence in his voice. I was too scared to turn around and I trusted that he had. I have no idea how long or far we went at that pace but I do know that my adrenaline was at the max and that whole fight or flight theory is totally legitimate. When we finally reached a clearing with a few other people Joey asked if I saw it. I told him that I intentionally did not look, knowing I might scream or freak out and I had seen all that I needed in his eyes to know that it was bad. He confirmed that we had walked up on a large male black bear about thirty yards ahead of us, the clicking noise that neither of us had ever heard before that moment was the bear warning us of his presence and when Joey topped the hill and unintentionally locked eyes with the bear he knew that our Pinnacle hike was over, we had to back away. I can not believe how calm he remained through all of that and I’m so thankful that we got out of there safely. Now we will invest in bear spray and go along more prepared for our next hike… that most likely won’t include the overgrown trails that no one is hiking because that one bear encounter was enough for me for a lifetime.