Late Saturday night I received a text from my mom saying, "Hey, wanna hike tomorrow?"
Obviously, I said yes. I had already cancelled my Sunday morning hike to eliminate some stress to my already crazy Sunday Schedule. I had guests checking out at 10am, new guests checking in at 3pm, and a full cleaning protocol to follow based on CDC guidelines.
I also had a drive to Savannah planned and other errands to do. I was already stressing about achieving everything on my to-do list but I knew my mom and I could easily wake up early and be done with a hike in time by the time my guests checked out at 10am
We decided to stick close to home so we chose Pinnacle Knob via the Bartram Trail. About 30 minutes away and we wanted to spend more time hiking than driving.
We hiked up the switchbacks and passed roaring waterfalls catching up on each others lives. I think my favorite hikes with my mom are our catch-up hikes. Step by step, mile by mile, we trekked our way up the mountain until we saw a clearing of greenery with the small town of Clayton in the distance.
Shortly after we sat down at the summit, a guy appeared who must have been hiking behind us. I felt bad...I hope we didn't talk his ear off the entire way up the mountain! We chatted with him for awhile about film and what's going on around the world. I ate my favorite trail snack, goldfish, while listening to our new trail friend tell us about his past hiking experiences.
We took in the view one last time, put our hiking packs back on and started the trek down the mountain. I didn't want to but it was time to leave the peacefulness of the wilderness and go back to reality. Past the waterfalls, down the switchbacks, back to the world of responsibility.