A "Difficult" Hike

The goal was to hike a new trail in Pisgah Forest-
Sycamore Cove Trail.  With guide book in hand,
Tara and I took off for the trailhead.

The day was beautiful and the Davidson River was running
swift from all the rain we've had this week.

We could not find the trailhead for this trail.  The description
in the guidebook suggested that we could connect with our trail
from the Art Loeb trail.

So we got on the Art Loeb and started climbing.  It was a tough
series of switchbacks up the mountain that had us both sweating
like crazy!   We hiked for an hour and a half in beautiful
rhododendron arbors and enjoying beautiful scenery.

We didn't meet any other hikers on the trail and it was so
peaceful.  After a while, we realized that this trail was not
going to connect with the Sycamore Cove Trail and we had
to turn around and head back (unless we were up for the full
30 mile Art Loeb - which we weren't!)
When we returned to our starting place we realized that we had
neglected to notice that the trail we were on was rated "difficult".

It was difficult, but we were able to hike it with stops
for catching our breath. This is the first trail we've hiked
that had this rating.   We felt empowered!!!  Two
middle aged women on the Art Loeb - yeah
for us!

We had our lunch by the river and talked to
lots of nice folks that were walking and biking
on the Davidson River Trail.  This is a new
trail that has opened in the past year and is a
couple of miles long.

We were determined that we weren't leaving until we figured

out where that trailhead for Sycamore Cove was located.
We retraced out steps and found our mistake.  We crossed the
wrong bridge -

Once we made this correction - we found the trailhead we 

were seeking.

This will be our next hike and we won't get lost!

So, even though we lost our bearings today, it was

still a good day. We were in the great outdoors and

we pushed ourselves to a new level of difficult

hiking.

And Tara blazed her own shortcut back to the car,

which as a good friend I dutifully followed.

*Goal #1 - Take 50 hikes.