Black Balsam Range, Sam Knob, and Mount Pisgah, April 15th, 2023

Black Balsam Range

Black Balsam is one of the most popular destinations for hiking in this region, so I'll spare you the details and just say that I found the hike over to Shining Rock to be delightful, although there are unmaintained trails you gotta take to the summits of the aforementioned peak and Grassy Cove Top. Anyhow, enjoy!

Sam Knob

I was initially going to hop over from here and knock out Chesnut and Hardy, but I decided to go for the easier Sam's knob given time concerns, the view from the bald at the col was strikingly similar to the view of Snake from Rich Mountain Gap, which is a rather cool coincidence, even if this one is at a smaller scale. The ascent was a well-maintained trail. I met a lovely older man at the top and we had a nice long conversation about a bunch of different things, and it was really nice to get that socializing in considering I don't get as much social interaction nowadays with my lifestyle. Anyhow, once the delightful conversation was over, I took my photos and headed down, and I saw the guy again at the trailhead. There we bonded over me DIYing my van build and him talking about his RV. And that's when he invited me to spend a night in his RV with him if I ever wanted to. It was at that point when I understood the reason for him calling me beautiful on multiple occasions during our conversations. Lmao I guess it's a female experience to have a guy display interest in you only for you to realize later he just wants to fuck you. And I'll give the guy this: he did it pretty smoothly. Unfortunately for him, I'm a big 'ole dike, and even if I wasn't, I don't know many straight women my age who are interested in hooking up with a random dude in his late 50s that they met on a hike. Idk, I still enjoyed the conversation, and maybe I've yet to be worn down by this sort of thing, but I didn't feel like that took away from the overall experience of talking to someone interesting and new. But I can definitely see how someone could feel differently. #formativeFemaleExperiences amirite???

Mount Pisgah

I started on Pisgah late in the day, and the timing worked out well enough for a sunset hike! Which is really cool because I think that this is only the second one of those I've ever done - strange considering how popular that kind of hike is. Anyhow, the trail was maintained well and I got to see a delightful sunset at the top :)