Hiking to Magnetic Rock
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It's been more years than I care to admit since I have hiked to Magnetic Rock. It's a favorite destination for many of our guests. In recent years, I have been trying to make hiking a priority, when I can find the time. Deep inside, I know that I really must take the time, and as a result, I've gotten out more. Sometimes, this works out better if I have another incentive, like a beautiful day, or the desire to take photographs, or someone to hike with. In this case, my motivation lay in a relatively new venture for me: geocaching.
After acquiring a GPS unit last year, I joined the website geocaching.com. Occasional emails arrive to tell me what is going on in that realm of the world. I saw one in early October that alerted me to the fact that October 12 was International Earth Cache Day. As the Geocaching.com website puts it, "An EarthCache is a special geological location people visit to learn about a unique feature of the Earth." Unlike traditional geocaches, there is no box or cache associated with it. Rather, the location itself is the geocache. By hiking to an earth cache on that day, I could earn a little souvenir button to have on my profile page. Nothing special, but in this case, incentive enough to get me out on the trail on that particular day.
The schedule of the day did not go quite as I had planned. Greg was in town, and we were expecting some new guests in. I was waiting for him to get home, so that I could take off. His schedule turned out to be much different than he anticipated, and when he finally did return, it was nearing five o'clock. I knew the distance to the rock, and I knew what time the sun would go down. Would I make it there and back before dark? I had to try. Off I drove to the trail head.
It had been a beautiful day, and now the sun was low in the sky. I strapped on my fanny pack, turned on my GPS and headed onto the trail. It happened to be the weekend that the Border Route Trail Association had been working in the area, and I had first-hand knowledge that they had cleared the trail of downfalls and brush on Friday. Hiking was thankfully easy, as the trail is well-used and clearly marked. I kept a good pace going, with only a few stops to take pictures.
As I approached the rock, the sun was lowering into the golden range. So pretty! On any other day, I might not have considered doing the hike at this hour, but here I was by necessity. (I had to get that little badge!) It made for better pictures than I am normally capable of achieving--what a bonus. I noted that it had taken me about 35 minutes to reach the rock, which gave me just barely enough time to make it out before dusk really set in. I snapped a few more photos, took a quick reading of my coordinates, and headed back.
In the end, I was able to get to the car, just as it was getting harder to judge footing on the path. Made it--just in the nick of time. I went home, logged on to my computer, and snagged my prize. But the real prize was actually getting out on that particular trail again. I now have a fresh memory in mind when I recommend to my guests that the hike to Magnetic Rock is fabulous.