Last Sunday, the 4 of us drove the momma van up to Pilot Mountain, about 45 minutes north of here, up route 52. It was a gorgeous day, cloudy and in the 70’s, no bugs, and we were all in a good mood 🙂 We have really enjoyed hiking the past few months, starting with our Hanging Rock hikes, then Salem Lake (near our home), and decided Pilot Mountain would be next. My legs were only a tad sore from the Moonlight Madness 5K, so I figured a hike would get them loosened up a bit.
But first, this is what we did prior to the hike: a Minion photo shoot! This first picture of Asher is my favorite; I just absolutely adore this boy! I wanted a few pics before we threw the Minion balloon away (it was losing air and on its last days).

These 2 just crack me up!

So we headed to Pilot Mountain after lunch, hoping that both boys would take a nap either on the way up or the way back, or both (haha!) Neither slept on the way there; too busy watching on the DVD player (Gabe with headphones, Asher with none).
When we arrived, we checked out the overlook:

After a quick bathroom break, we began the Jomeokee trail, which is 0.8 miles around the base of Pilot Mountain. It looks like this (from Hike the South website):
If you’re not familiar with Pilot Mountain, it’s pretty gorgeous! This is from R24KBerg on flickr (found it on a google search but thought it breath-taking!):

So the Jomeokee trail proved perfect for us. Gabe is still “scared” (so he says), so he’ll hold my hand pretty much the whole way, which I suppose is fine. At least I know where he is! Asher loves riding with Daddy in the Osprey Poco Plus:
A few Instagram pics:

We took some “strong pics” with our mini-me’s 🙂
I couldn’t get over how beautiful this hike was. I bring the camera, nearly always, just in case. I’m so thankful I did!

We found this really cool rock area:



Then we finished up. We take our time with Gabe, so he can enjoy himself without getting too tired.

You can sort of see the mountain through the trees here:

We checked the campground on the way back down, and decided we will give camping a try sometime soon (when we can afford to buy the tents, sleeping bags, etc). Pilot Mountain also has more trails for us to try next time!
This dude fell asleep as soon as we got on the highway. Because being carried is tiring!

Where’s your favorite hiking spot? Do you go at a leisurely pace, or do it for a workout?
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