[LittleHikerMom]

Well, I knew this was gonna be a toughie... as i'm not used to doing hikes with 3,400 feet of elevation gain. So i tried my hardest to pace myself. Unfortuately... the guys i was with were very young (my age) and energetic. Which wouldn't have been a problem if we weren't hiking. So... they scrambled on up... and i mosied along at my own pace. They waited for me a few times. But I kept telling them that i didn't want to hold them back or anything. So whatdaya know, I get to the hard part where the trail is extreamly hard to decipher... and spend my time wandering around this valley tryin to figure where the trail is.... And then ended up on the top of some other mountain... not the one i was supposed to be on... and looked down to see my hiking buddies coming back from the CORRECT trail. You better bet i panicked! I was screaming and yelling to get their attention... they heard me somehow by some miracle... even tho it sounded like my yelling only got to about 10 feet away. I slid/ climbed down the Scramble route that i really wasn't supposed to be on... and then lost my camera... it fell out of the thing i had it in (luckily it was in it's camera bag) and i watched helplessly as it tumbled down the mountain... but... no time for a search... i looked for it as i went down... but didn't see it anywhere... so that's the end of my $200 camera! Oh well. We ended up hiking out in the twilight semi-darkness. Probably my fault for taking forever... i just can't run down those trails. My knees can't handle it. So yeah, i had an interesting time. I found out that if there are two trails... sticks lying all over the trial means you aren't supposed to go that way. Unfortuately... i didn't notice that there WAS another trail. I'm smart. Well next time i encounter large amounts of sticks and branches lying on a trail... i'll begin a search for another trail sprouting off from that one. Well... Mount stone was an... interesting mountain. hehehe. And no don't go telling me that it's all my fault. Blah blah blah. I enjoyed the experience... and i actually like learning from experience.... I don't like to be told "when you do this... this will happen." I usually don't believe people. If i choose to listen to advice or ask for it... that's different. Unless whatever i'm doing is detrimental to my health... i think i'll be ok. So anyway... it was a nice hike... i liked it.

[LittleHikerMom]

Where i ended up....

[phillyjon]

Interesting. I'm sorry you lost your camera. Just a rookie mistake. If you're like me you'll go on having them from time to time. We consider ourselves lucky when making it back from mis-adventures. Hopefully learning something. Would like to know more. I'd like to get me a new beat-up camera.

[sarbar]

Lol...yeah, we need the GPS location of where ya lost it

[LittleHikerMom]

Well... i was almost to the top of Mount Stone... They took a picture... but the spot they marked out was a little below where i was. From where i was I could see the top... and i wasn't too far from it.

[Oren]

EDD and I almost did the same thing. We did the hike early May when there was a lot of snow. It was only by use of an altimeter that we knew we had gained too much elevation. We were headed up Stone Mountain also. Anyway, I understand about not wanting to hold someone back. I'm not a fast mover myself. I wouldn't recommend getting separated though, especially if your in an area that your not familiar with. lol.

[LittleHikerMom]

[Oren]

We didn't actually do Stone. Once we knew we were to high we cut over and found a bit of the trail. There are parts of the trail that do get fairly steep so I feel ya. Sounds like you had quite an adventure.