Jomeokee Trail
Loop
1.0 miles
Moderate
The Jomeokee Trail at Pilot Mountain is about as easy a way to see grand geology as I have found. The park road goes practically all the way to the top of Little Pinnacle and there are overlooks with grand vistas right at the edge of the parking lot. Pilot Mountain stands virtually alone in the northern Piedmont of North Carolina, rising dramatically above the surrounding countryside. Winston-Salem, Hanging Rock, and the southern Virginia mountains are easily seen from various points on this hike.
Little Pinnacle is as high as you can legally go at Pilot Mountain. The summit of Big Pinnacle was closed in the 1970's to create a bird sanctuary. The stair leading to the top was taken down and climbing prohibited. I'm not a climber, but what a shame to not be able to climb it. There were several "routes" that to my non-climber eyes looked like a lot of fun. As I understand, there is plenty of good climbing in the Pilot Mountain park. That they still allow it is refreshing in this age of reducing risk at the expense of free choice to risk your life and health if you want to.
The last time I was at Pilot Mountain, you could still climb to the top of Big Pinnacle. What a shame...
The weather was very cool and very windy. Either one without the other would have been fine, but together, it was a bit uncomfortable. We bundled up and after a visit to the park facilities, headed toward the trail head.
We made our way from the parking lot to the first overlook on the trail. As we stood enjoying the views, I looked down and Conner (BC) was climbing through the fence to get a closer look of the 100' drop off the side of the cliff. I calmly informed him of the risk and he, seeing the merit of my argument, decided to come back to the proper side of the fence. NOT!!! I firmly and loudly commanded him to get back on the right side of the fence and spent three or four minutes explaining to him about falling off mountains and DYING and the value of the fences and to NEVER EVER let me catch him crossing one again. I'm very reasonable like that. Actually, I made it clear that I wasn't mad and he wasn't in trouble, but what he did was dangerous. I can say that he didn't express any interest in climbing over, under, or around fences the rest of the day.
After that episode, we continued on to the summit of Little Pinnacle and enjoyed the views there. The kids climbed on the rocks and we all (except Kristina) stood on the high point marker. Unfortunately, there are no pictures. In our excitement about the cool weather hiking, we packed everything but the camera. We're going to go back again in a few weeks and get pictures of this great place.
When we were ready, we made our way to the actual start of the Jomeokee Trail. This trail starts by going down some rock stairs to the saddle between Big and Little Pinnacles. Then it becomes an easy stroll across the saddle, then back up some stairs to the trail around Big Pinnacle. We hiked counter-clockwise. This put us on the leeward side of the mountain, blocking the cold wind. Without the wind, the temperature was very comfortable and we ended up shedding our outer layer to stay comfortable.
It took us an hour to get around the pinnacle because we spent so much time climbing around in the rocks. The boys were loving it. Conner (BC) was especially having fun. Elijah (Dubya) is a little height shy, but he seemed to gain some confidence toward the end of the trip.
Once around the north side of the peak, the wind started hitting us again. This really bothers Kristina, so we didn't stop as much on that side of the mountain. We made our way back to the car and headed on home. As it turned out, Kristina was in the process of developing a severe cold/flu. She never complained and was content to let us boys play as much as we wanted to.
At one point, Kristina turned to me and said, "I feel like we've been wasting our time going to Morrow Mountain." I have to say, I sort of felt the same way, but the hikes at Morrow Mountain served a valuable purpose: it got Kristina in the woods on easy hikes. It's a starting point. She'll never be one for long hikes, but she is enjoying these short hikes and is looking forward to doing long-er hikes. I'm still planning to finish the Morrow Mountain trails by the end of the year, but it might be hard now that we've found this gem so close to home.
There's lot of interesting geological features that I'd like to comment on but would be better served by pictures. Next time we go to Pilot Mountain, I'll share some of those.
No comments:
Post a Comment