If there’s any time of year when it’s appropriate to hike a mountain that translates to “Devil Mountain”, it’s October.
What’s spookier than a trip up a peak that’s undergoing full-fledged decay, by oneself, and listening to the spookiest of spooky playlists?
Yesterday, I had the day off and a mountain shrouded in fog just seemed like the perfect place to go to get into the spooky spirit.
So I hopped in the car and made my way up up up, listening to the soundtrack of Hannibal (got to get myself in the mood!) and parked at my familiar spot in Juniper Campground.
Outside, the temperature was chilled and there was a blanket of fog surrounding me.
As I made my way up the trail to the summit, the first thing I noticed was the smell.
Intoxicating is the best word I can use to describe the air. I don’t know if it was the smell of plants dying, or the wet dew, but I inhaled it in deep breaths and wished there was a way I could trap it in a bottle and take it home with me.
Once the smell became familiar and I was fully intoxicated with the scent of autumn, I then noticed the scenery.
All around me were photographic wonders. Wet spiderwebs strung across branches, mossy trees gnarled in the funkiest of poses, twiggy trees poking out of the fog, and vibrant red leaves starkly contrasted against rich green foliage.
I was out there all by myself, stopping on a whim whenever something caught my eye (which was often) and really got enveloped in the spirit of Halloween.
No kitschy scares, no obscene gore, just me and nature, a woman wandering in the woods, your classic spooky story.
Except there was no grotesque ending, thank goodness.
