Almost Forgot...

I almost couldn't recall where I took this photo. And then I remembered that it was a place called Eagle Rocks on Rumbling Bald Mountain part of which is now owned by the state of North Carolina and is being incorporated into the new-ish Chimney Rock State Park. Once I recalled where I'd taken it, I was able to call up these other photographs from my external hard drive.

This was at the uppermost terminus of our hike, the formation they call Eagle Rocks.

I hiked that day with my usual hiking partner, Jack Thyen. Yes, his hat is a funny one, but he claims its the warmest cap he has and it was a particularly cold day. In fact, at one point the sky dropped a bit of a snow flurry on us.

This was also my first hike with Andy Kunkle. That's Andy following Jack to the top. I'll be hiking next week with Andy on a three-day backpack on the Appalachian Trail in Virginia.

And here we were on the summit, rewarded with a fantastic view on a nice chilly winter day.

A dead, weathered snag that was standing just below the summit rocks.