Proof we were there:
Photos didn't do the wildflowers justice:
Most of the way up, we chatted with a doctor who had lent us essential bug spray in the parking lot. She and her husband had had fellowships at Duke Hospital, and noticed E's NCSU T-shirt. Husband did a 16-mile trail run while wife and energetic dog hiked.
A view from the top:
Heading back down. I am very very very very very slow going downhill on steep trails, particularly when I can see opportunities to fall off the trail. I'm pretty sure this is related to my acrophobia, since I had no trouble going downhill on an equally steep trail a week ago in the Blue Ridge mountains, with overgrown wild blueberry bushes providing mental support by pressing in on all sides. No blueberries on Castle Peak, just dry scree and steeper drop-offs. In any case, my slowness meant I could take photos of E and S zipping down far ahead of me.
(Here's a photo of those Blue Ridge blueberries, to make my point. Can you see the trail? No? Neither could I. Overgrown blueberries are to the acrophobe what a thundershirt is to an anxious dog.)
Back to Castle Peak...
Looking back up at where we had been:
Finally, an artsy collaborative photo courtesy of E and S, who had to find something to do while they waited for me to catch up to them.
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