Doing double mountians on Father's Day

We had faced the challenges of

both King's Mountain and Elk Mountain in the past. In fact one of our favorite hikes is to climb up Elk and down King's Mountain. BUT, we'd never climbed up Kings and down Elk and, we'd never done any with full packs. We decided we were ready for a super challenge. We knew the trails and what to prepare for...

 

We started by spending the night at Elk Creek campground so we could start the day out at first light (or at least earlier than if we had to drive here!) It was the first use of the new Tarp Tent. Very roomy and super light. It has some serious condensation and zipper issues that we need to work out though.

This bridge washout was unexpected but the little logs on the right served just fine. There was another larger log across the creek upstream a bit but it was also at least 6 feet above the water and I liked these odds much better.

Too pretty to pass up.

View from somewhere up near the top!

As we gained altitude, it got wetter, foggy and cold. The wetness made the clay trail extremely slick and dangerous. The flowers were much prettier than the trail!

 

 At last, milestone number one--King's Mountain summit. It's a long continuous climb but went much smoother than we'd hoped. Notice how foggy it is. It was great to be on top and knocking those scary things off our list.

Our next concern was the rope climb and rock wall looming between the two mountain tops. 

We were pleased to find that climbing up the rope wasn't very hard--even if an additional length had been added. The rock wall was challenging, especially having the packs but we overcame the trepidation and conquered it!

 Wildflowers great us as we near Elk Mountain trailhead.

 We were excited to be closing in on Elk Mountain summit. It was all downhill from there--easy as pie...So we assumed.

 And let me tell you--it did kick our butts. It was slick and steep. We knew it was steep going up, but allowed ourselves to be lulled into thinking the worst was over by this point. Boy were we wrong. It was the hardest we'd ever encountered. Very slow and cautious, just when we thought it would be fast and easy.

 Wildflowers are always an encouragement. Even when covered in huge rain drops.

 At last we made it to the summit...It's all downhill from here...

Only a few more miles--straight down. It was so slick and steep I gave up and sat down and just slide rather than risk falling many times. It was a great test of my pants and pack! (they both passed with flying colors!) It was a slow trip and we were exhausted and very happy to make it to the car. We are in no hurry to repeat this trip!