The day trudged wearily into being. Dreary, gray and dark. Waking to the drizzling dawn sliding down my window, I wondered if we’d even go today. I slightly prepared for the trip and kept one eye on the clock. By quarter past, my mind had moved on to a nice, quiet day at home watching the rain. Only minutes later, they arrived. We drove off, tires sloshing through wet gravel and mud. So began our great adventure. My annual summer tradition. We arrived at the fairly empty site and dodged semi trucks as we ran to the start of the trail. Exactly 15 steps later, we stopped running, and began to question wether or not we could indeed conquer this mountain. Onward through misty, humid forest and upward toward blinding fog we prevailed. We came to the first lookout and determined to continue. We trudged ever higher, to the enchanted forest. We looked for Gandalf, but he wasn’t home. We left unharmed and resumed our conquest. At last, sweet victory. The fog was so thick, we could see only to the edge of our now conquered peak, but we had won. We celebrated with chocolate, snacks, and nearly draining our remaining water. The uphill trek had been brutal endurance. The downhill journey was an all out kamikaze trip. I can’t called it a run, because it was more like a hop, skip, and a stumble. Mollie looked as though she was training for some bizarre sport. Maggie laughed the entire way. I took photos. And worked at surviving. 
Sadly, partially because of the insane speed of the descent, I did not manage to capture the acrobatics of my friends. However, here is a small glimpse into our hiking adventure.
Skyline hike is about one mile, and can take between 3-5 hours. It qualifies as “strenuous” in the guide book, and has an elevation gain of 1,800 feet.
