early in may, north carolina began phase one of “reopening” and part of that was state parks opening in various capacities. since it happened on a friday evening, we had no plans to venture out on that weekend with the masses of crazy people who had been cooped up for so long. then, it started raining for like two straight weeks. but then, one day, the skies cleared. or rather, water stopped falling out of them for a minute. and anna and i hopped in the car with the dogs and headed to pilot mountain.
we just wanted to be outside, not have a strenuous long hike, so we drove all the way up to the upper parking lot and hiked the super short hike around the knob. the pinnacle. whatever it’s called.
the dogs were so happy to get out and about.
we alternated who had ruby, who pulls against the leash the entire time (helpful when climbing, not so much when descending). and who had duke, who wanders sort of aimlessly and is NOT super friendly with passing canines.
ruby likes to enjoy the scenery. or so i think.
aforementioned scenery. rhododendrons?
we always stop to do a bit of scrambling in this spot. ruby was glad to join anna. but that was before we saw this sign on our way out, which i don’t think i’ve ever seen. maybe it means, no rock climbing up to the top. maybe it means us. oops.
mountain goats. 
committing misdemeanors.
our favorite photo opportunity.
after we hiked around the pinnacle, we took a short little out and back hike along a ridge trail, that was not very exciting. and then we made our way to an overlook.
we only hiked a couple of miles and they weren’t very hard, but we still had a couple of tired and happy pups. the outdoors was good for all of us.
now for a fun story. as we were walking in, i noticed a man in a buffalo bills tee. i stopped to talk to him, and mentioned i was from batavia. he said he lived in florida until recently, and he used to work with a guy from batavia. since it’s a small town, i figured it couldn’t hurt to ask him who it was, assuming i might recognize a last name or something. but, it turned out to be my uncle skip! after laughing about this small world, and chatting a bit, we took a photo together to send to his facebook page and parted ways.
Small world indeed! Glad you enjoyed your day out. Beautiful pics!