What happens is not as important as how you react to what happens.

I hit a home run with the day trippin’ through the mountains! Both kids were going on all the way home about what fun they had and they both said it was WAY better than a birthday party! (SCOOOORE!)


I had fun too, though admittedly through the first leg of our adventure, I felt more like I was doing a show for fear factor – I scared the willies out of myself!


First stop, Chimney Rock Park. We had breakfast while sharing a table with a friendly couple we had never met before. Then, after a quick run through the shops looking for some walking sticks, we headed up the mountain to the ticket office. The parking lot was too small to accommodate the unusually large crowd, so a large field was converted into a parking lot and we rode a bus to the lower lot. Fear factor #1 conquered – a large, top heavy bus LOADED with people, winding its way up a NARROW road, sharp corners and in many spots, driving on what seemed to be just a few inches from a scary precipice.

OK, I survived that. At the level that is the actual parking lot on an average day in the summer, we headed down the tunnel/cave toward the elevator that goes 14 stories to Skyline Lodge where all trails converge. Fear factor #2: We opted to abandon the 1/4 mile long line for a brave adventure on one trail I had never been on before, the Needle’s Eye, a 185 stair incline that ascends almost straight up between Rock Pile and Pulput rock. The WORST part of this story is that it was MY idea to tackle this particular trail.

Next to my first ride on a rollercoaster, I think this was one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever undertaken. Granted, it looked intimidating from the bottom, but I was sure it would get better. NOT. Once we got up into the rock, the stairs became VERY narrow and began a steep spiral into darkness. Ok, this HAD to be the worst of it. NOT. Once making it through the spiral, the stairs again go straight up in what seems like an even steeper incline. It gets worse. The rock overhead will no longer allow you to stand upright, the railing ceases to be, and the only way to tackle the steepness of the incline is to literally grasp the step in front of you and climb the next flight of stairs like a ladder. I swear to GAWD, I thought I was going to DIE before I got out of that hell-hole. I was bordering on tears. Yes, I wanted to turn back, but once I got high enough into that darn thing to realize how terrifying it was, the thought of turning around and looking BEHIND me and DOWN from where I’d just come, seemed even MORE terrifying. By the time we came into the daylight, I was shaking like a leaf – not really sure if it was from muscle fatigue or sheer terror. I confess however, that upon seeing others far younger and fit than myself, emerge from this hole, ashen, crazy-eyed and trembling, I did not feel like so much of a wus.

I eventually made it to the Skyline Lodge, though I had to take a few lengthy stops to catch my breath in hopes that my heart would not completely fail me before I got through this entire ordeal. At one of my rest stops, one poor girl was so traumatized that she was vomiting. I did not make it to the top of that blasted mountain, but I was able to get up to the Lodge, which in my lofty opinion, was a MAGNAMOUS feat of courage and tenacity on my part.

Needless to say, we took the elevator back down to the parking lot. Fear factor #3, riding 14 stories down on a teeny 6x6 elevator packed with people like sardines in a can. And YES, you could FEEL the drop. Holy shit, by the time we endured ANOTHER bus ride down the mountain back to our car, I felt like I was suffering post traumatic stress. (I’m sorry if I offend anyone with that descriptive expletive, but that was exactly what I meant…holy SHIT).

Here’s a view of Lake Lure from somewhere we traveled in Chimney Rock Park.


A view from one of my rest stops…


Can you guys find Kendall and Kiki in this pic?


Dead Man’s Gulch…


Can you see Kendall and Kiki’s feet at the bottom? No doubt when this hole got it’s name, it was named after some poor soul who had just attempted to conquer the Needle’s Eye. He likely died from the sheer terror of it all.

From Chimney Rock, we headed toward Asheville and the Blue Ridge Parkway. To be continued...