As I've mentioned Elsewhere, -I'm Moving any Stone Mountain Discussion as may have Begun, -Over Here, -into it's own Thread. If you Too Have any Experiences on the Stone, -or would Otherwise Like to Join In, -This is the Place.

I myself had Long Had some Yen to Go Down there! A Best Friend had Moved Down There some Years Before, -and While That is Part of It, -That's also Largely Beside the Point. I'd Want to Go Down to Check Out,-and Climb!, -the "Stone",-in Any Event.

As Many of you Know, -It's a Quite Unique, Stand Alone, Mountain!, -some 16 miles East of Atlanta. It's a Granite Outcrop, a Monadnock. Some Ancient, -Once Molten Magma,-which Remained Long After All Overlying Materials had Eroded Off. Though of course a Part of the Appalachians,-It also Stands Well Apart from It! -Well Past "the Flat Part of Atlanta"! It's Not Terribly High,-even for an Appalachian,-But It's also No Midget either! It's Standalonedness, -Particularly in a Flatland,-Contributes to this Effect as Well!

A Giant Carving of Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Jeff Davis Stands Prominently on one of It's Faces,-but I was Not There,-It was Getting Toward Dusk on that August Night, -and I Never Did get to See that Part. ( I am a Yankee,-BTW,-and While I Give All Due Respect and Regard to the South,-I am Glad we of the North Won!, -Not the Least Reason Being the Very Preservation of our Union! ),-This Great Sculpture was Not a Part of my Experience.

I was at Stone Mountain At Long Last! There was More than a Little Daylight Left, -I was Going to Climb It! It was Only Several Times Taller, -than some of my Tallest Hills, Back at Home, -It was the Relatively Easy, Western Tourist Route, and it would be Perfectly OK,-even in Dusk and Darkness. I was Fit Enuf and Looking Forward to It!, -The Mountain Beckoned!, -" Because It is There !," -and So On Up I Went! It was also my First Experience of Ever Climbing a Mountain,-Something that I had Long Been Looking Forward To! (Despite the Fact that I'm only 50 Miles from the Apps Back at Home, -I Had Been There,-but Never Had the Oppurtunity to Actually Climb One.)

And so as Summertime Dusk Approached and Gathered,-Onward Up that Granite I Went. -Easy Mountaineeering Event!, -Great and Significant Enuf Personal Event! Much of that Western Approach is a Gentle to Medium Grade, -but Not Always Lacking in some Ruffness! As I've said Elsewhere,-It is Pure, Smooth, Unadulterated Granite Underfoot,-and All Around. (A Patch or Two of Pines Exists on a Part of the Mtn,-but that's Very Atypical!) I've Grown Up around Soil All my Life!,- It was a New and Different Experience,-on All This Rock! -But a Great and Enjoyable One as Well! (Nor was I Exactly Used To All that Red, Georgia Soil All Over the Atlanta Area!,-Back Where I Come From,-It's Black and Brown!,-Like "Real Soil's" Suspossed to Look!) But Here on the Mountainside, - Pure Gray,-All Around. There's are some Steeper, Ruff Parts,-on your Way Up. -Until you Get to a Really Steeper, Rounded Stretch,-Up Near the Top.

Then The Summit!,-or as Near to It as I could Get!,-I Think that It Itself was Fenced Off,-and Inaccessable from the Trail. I could See that Top Building or Tower,-Not All that Far Away. I Hung Around a Good While! Daylight Turned to Dusk to Darkness. There was still enuf Light Around, as to be No Problem. The View Down and All Around!, -The View of Atlanta in the Far Off Distance, -The Horizon and Skyline All Around, -The Summertime Haze Shading Up into the Clearness -Dark Countryside Peppered Here and There with Other, Non-Atlanta, Georgia Lights! It's All something to Hang Around For!,-Even on a Nice Georgia Summer Night. The Mountain and Conditions Permitted,-Not Prohibited,-It. You Just Gotta Make Sure you Don't Lose Track of the Trail! For a Few Moments I Did a Bit,-but Soon Enuf again Found It!

After Suitably Savoring the Experience for Awhile,-It was Time to Come Down that Trail once again, -Did So,-and Got Back on the Bus and then onto their Excellent MARTA,-To my Atlanta Area Motel well to the North. Back to Full, Evryday Normalcy, -though a Several Week Trip Away from Ole Home Parts,-Isn't Exactly Full Normaltude.

But I Had Been to Stone Mountain!, -At Long Last! And Climbed It!,-my First Mountain!, Was I Gonna Climb It?! Is the Pope Catholic?,-And Does the Earth Revolve Around the Sun?! OK Then, -"Because It is There!"

I Wasn't as Itching to Do Stone, -as Say I Long and Presently Am, -To Behold Crater Lake Sometime! ( Gotta Go See the Grand Canyon Too! ),-But the Specialness was More Than a Little Bit Up There, Too!

As I've said Elsewhere,-The Thot Really Hit me,-as I was Climbing and Descending, -of What It could Be Dangerously Like!, -To Be Caught in a Downpour!, -on that Mountain! Nothing but Pure Hard, Impenetrable, Granite Rock!, -NO Soil to speak of,-At All! Any Rainfall would Have Absolutely Nowhere to Go!, -but Down and All Around!,-on That Slippery Slope! Check Out the Smooth Slipperyness of that Rock for Yourself,-and See if It Won't Be Slippery when Wet! What's More,-You could Have an Inch or More's Flood to Have to Deal With! Try Keeping your Footing on That! Try to Keep from Sliding and from Being Washed Down the Side!,-in such Conditions! This Smooth Sided Mountain and Face!,-Offers you NO Sharp Rock Handholds or Footholds!

And It's a Plenty Plenty Ruffer Mountain,-on Other Faces! I could Readily See That on It's South Side,-as I Approached.

But I Took the Far Easier, Western, Standard Tourist Trail Up!, -the Only Route so Available to me. (You Certainly Can't Go Violating Established Regulations) Anywhere Else on the Mountain would have been Unacceptable, -and Often Impossible,-in such Gathering Darkness Conditions. Physically,-This Western Route was Like Nothing!

Finally,-There's a Fenced Enclosure or Two,-of Rare Plants Endemic Only to Stone Mountain,-in Rare "Soil Spots". I Got Quite Near One, -and could See the Fencing Up Ahead, -but in the Darkness by Now, -Did Not Want to Lose Touch with the Trail,-Pretty Indistinguishable from the Rest of the Rock Anyway!,-on This Mountainside. -Let Alone Doing so in a Good Deal of Darkness.

And Such is By and Large my Stone Mountain Experience! -How Bout Your's? [color:"black"] [/color] [email]ScottRezaLogan[/email]