Pillar Mountain Hike

I never cease to be amazed at how beautiful it is here.  The sky is blue (or gray depending on the day!), the water sparkles and the mountains soar.  The air is very clear which equals good breathing for those of us with allergies:)  I got the brilliant idea that I wanted to hike up Pillar Mountain.

Let me give you a little background on Pillar.  Pillar is the only mountain you can drive up.  The road is not paved.  At the top of Pillar Mountain are three wind turbines that spin in the wind.  They don't really look that big until you get right up on top of them.  It stands a mile and a half tall.  That being said when you are hiking the road it turns out to be 21/2 miles...one way...up all the way..

Here are a few pics and some thoughts I had while hiking.

This is the view from about a quarter of the way up the mountain.  I had to stop and take a photo through the break in the trees.  Actually I had to take several simply to have a rest break.  I was only just beginning to think I might die on this trek...lol.   You can see the Orthodox Russian Church with it's blue "onion bulbs".  Such pretty architecture.

I'm a sucker for waterfalls and this one afforded a beautiful picture (and another rest stop..pant...pant)

 We went from gravel road to this.  At first it was a new experience.  Walking in the snow.  After a few minutes not so much fun.  It was funny you would be walking along as the snow was fairly strong and then one foot would sink and you would end up floundering around.:)  The up side is that I can say I hiked up a mountain in the snow;) By the way -- I'm about 3/4 of the way dead by now and regretting this fabulous idea I had.  Good thing my friend Lindsey was with me cause I would have given up at about the waterfall other wise.

 Light at the end of the tunnel.  I can see the tops of the turbines! We MUST be near the summit.....

Ummm I hate to complain (okay but not really obviously) but it's 10 minutes later and aren't those actually farther away than before?  Oh well it's not gonna take long....

You know .... it should count that I can see all of them.  Wonder if Lindsey would notice if I just crawled the last million feet?

Success!  I made it!  See that wasn't too hard...

My goal is to get in good enough shape to go up Barometer, you know, without actually having my lungs explode from my lungs.   Barometer is over my left shoulder as you look at me.  It is about twice Pillar height and is straight up.  Takes two or so hours to go up and is STEEP! So basically Pillar is the bunny slope in comparison.

Absolutely would NOT have made it by myself so glad that Lindsey was able to go with me on my first hike up the mountain!  

Time to go back.   Down!  Down is good!   I like down..Sooooo much easier:)

Got back home just in time to see this guy land on the shore of the lake I live on.  Pretty unusual they tend to hang out in trees and on the buildings.  Thought maybe something was wrong until I saw his.....

LUNCH!  Spring is around the corner.  The ducks are on the lake again. 

That's pretty much my adventure in hiking Pillar Mountain.  I 'm glad I did it but am so very very sore this morning;)  Hope you enjoyed the read!