Crowding at Crowders

Early Saturday morning of the weekend. Time to locate new locales. So I discovered a mount not far from me. Crowders Mountain State Park.

I arrived before the sun was up. Fog swirled and the birds were just getting started since it was cold outside. The dash had read 40 degrees. I suspect it would get colder and breezier as I climbed. I was ready to do this after many months of relative inactivity.

Few early birds (the human kind) had also had that idea and parking was starting to fill up. I picked the strenuous route and decided to summit faster than taking the gradual but longer route.

Below were the sights along the way and from the top.

Made it to the summit in about an hour. 1,625 feet above sea level. Given Charlotte itself is about 750 feet elevation I guess I had climbed 900 or so feet in an hour. Not too bad given my unfit state.

If you look close and zoom in the middle you can make out the Charlotte downtown skyline

Finally returning to the parking lot I realized it had started to overflow and the additional parking next to a lake was beckoning visitors crowding the site. I trekked over to take a snap of the scenery and frigid waters that looked calm but did not smell too good.. pond scum I guess.

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