When I retired in 2014 and started hiking again, I learned very quickly I needed to relearn how to pace myself on hikes. I changed my breathing technique as I walked, changed the way I walked, and I had to learn how to get my heart rate down on steep inclines.
One thing I learned very quickly was to take breaks and breathe deeply to get my heart rate down. After a steep incline, I could “hear” my heart pounding. I would stop and after 90 seconds of slow, deep breathing, I realized I could no longer “feel” my heart pounding.
As I got better, I learned to rest on switch backs. I finally pared my breathing breaks down to 60 seconds, then 45 seconds. Now I am at 20 seconds to get my heart rate “liveable.”
Thanks to the Apple Watch, I can watch my heart rate decline. On some of the steep inclines I did today, my heart rate would jump to 166. After 20 seconds of rest, it would get down to a manageable 126.
In case you haven’t been following, I was undecided as to whether to go to Stone Mountain State Park today because of the threat of rain. It pretty much rained all night but then Stephen told me at breakfast that it was to clear at 10 am and then be sunny at 3 pm.
I decided to head to Stone Mountain. It’s about an hour and a half from Greensboro in the northwestern part of the state. I wanted to climb to the top of the monolith and the best trail for that seemed to be the Stone Mountain Loop Trail at 4.5 miles in length.
Let me recommend if you decide to do this hike to begin at the Upper Parking Lot and go to your right on the trail.
The hike started out easy at first and then as you begin to climb, it got more difficult. I would rate the first part a moderate hike. Once you reach the summit, you are a little tired but OK. Hikes are generally rated as easy, moderate or strenuous. There are some other terms out there but these are the most common ratings.
I made it to the summit around noon and ate lunch at the top. There wasn’t much to see since the entire summit was surrounded in mist. However, you could definitely get the feeling that you didn’t want to get too close to the edge.
The next part of the hike was mostly down hill. That’s a blessing and a curse. My knees don’t take to going down too well. Not only that, there were numerous steps leading down and steps can really pound your knees.
The only thing I can say is I was lucky I didn’t turn left and hike the loop clockwise. That is one very steep ascent (and descent). Not only that, but once you get to the bottom, you are still 3.8 miles from your starting point. I can’t imagine hiking 3.8 miles and then beginning the ascent.
As I was hiking down, I med a couple that was lost. I was able to show them a map and they realized they were only a little ways from their car in the Lower Parking Lot. After they left, I then got turned around myself and had to backtrack in a couple of places.
The loop trail then takes you directly to Stone Mountain Falls, a 200 foot water fall that is the most impressive I’ve seen in a while.
However, the trail leads you to the base of the falls. That means you have to climb 200 feet back to the starting point of the trail.
They provided steps all the way and they were well done and maintained but I was pushing over 5 miles by that point in time and I was running out of steam. I started to rest for 60 seconds every few terraces. My knees ached!
By the time I got back to the jeep, I was beat. My AllTrails tracker said I walked 5.4 miles but my GPS tracker said 5.9. It felt more like 5.9.
The entire hike of the loop is labeled as strenuous. I can count on my right hand the number of times a hike labeled strenuous was really strenuous. Most of the time, they label it that way to discourage people from trying it. In this case, it was truth in advertising. It was very strenuous!
There was only one place you could get a glimpse of the massiveness of the granite monolith and that was the restored Hutchinson homestead. The view was impressive.
Tomorrow I head for Savannah for the night and then the final push to Fort Lauderdale. I’ve had a wonderful time with Jimmie and Stephen and I really appreciate them letting me use their house as my base of operations for my day trips. I’ve already encourage them to come back down to Fort Lauderdale and let me reciprocate.
