Pictures from Butt Busting Trail

Here are pictures from Wednesday's hike, wherein we combined two challenging trails into one humongous butt-busting trail that wended its way high up the mountain before looping down again.

This picture will give you an idea of the steepness of the trail:



As it wound its way up the mountain, the giant trail was comprised of hill after hill after hill. Just as soon as we made our way up one hill, there was another one looming in front of us.



Here's a lovely picture I got once we'd navigated quite a few hills:



After hoofin' it and hoofin' it -- and plenty of sweat -- we made it to here:



Here's a view, looking down the side of the mountain:



Wow, check out what we just climbed!



*whew*, thank goodness for my sweat band. Getting closer to the top of the mountain...



...so we stopped for a rest. I sprawled in the leaves, on my back, and took pictures of the blue sky and the tall branches of the trees playing in the wind (this picture's for you, Susan!):



Got a nice picture of the moon, too!



Check out the hollowed-out tree. *knock, knock* -- anybody home? This picture is for Dorothy!



As Spring draws ever-nearer, growth becomes more dense.



Higher up the mountain, we found a fascinating rock formation, out of the top of which grows a tree!



And here's the pinnacle of our hike -- the highest point we reached before the first trail intersects with the second, at which point we started winding our way gradually down the mountain.



Just call me the Happy Hiker. And because of our hikes, I'm a more centered, creative, and peace-filled writer. Speaking of writing: check out the little green notebook in the pouch on my backpack strap -- yup, I take notes for my novel-in-progress when I hike.