Rightsize, retire, relocate and rethink: Happy Hump Day Wednesday the Last Week of January

So, on my only day off I managed to get up at 5:30am and get my hiking clothes on and drive 30 min to meet my friend who rode with me the rest of the 2 hour drive to the hike Sunday. At 5:30am it was 29 degrees...brrrrrrr!

We stopped on our way to the mountain at this pretty lake and took a couple of photos, but did not stay long as we were eager to get to the visitor center and a bathroom!

We had a nice turnout, about 17 gals and one gal hiked carrying her 4 year old son in a backpack set-up. She is a rock star. I spoke with her briefly during the hike and learned that she is a newly widowed single mother of one. Her son turned 4 the very next day after the hike. I did not ask her for details about her husband's passing, but my heart went out to her. I told her I also was a widow - at age 26.

Anyway, I was very impressed that she was out and doing the hike and meeting people. Go moms!

I think I have posted about Mount Magazine before. It is the highest mountain, not only in Arkansas, but between the Mississippi and the Rockies. At least I think that is what the visitor center guy told us. Anyway, feel free to google.

The first part of the trail is just a nice walk in the woods, as my friend S described it. Surprisingly, she has WAAAAAYYYYY more hiking experience than I, but she had not hiked Mt Magazine yet, and I had. This was the first time with this group - it is a group I found on Facebook.

Toward the end of the hike (after we hiked to Signal Hill to see the sign at the "top" and the geological medallion) we started to see the beautiful vistas!

These are some of us gals taking it in.

After that, we all went to the lodge and had a nice lunch. It was a great day.

Some of them stayed for the sunset, which I REALLY wanted to do, but I had 2.5 hours to drive home down the mountain and I had to work Monday early. Also I knew S was getting up to drive 3 hours east to do some hikes in the Buffalo River Area (so jealous). So I stole some of the girls sunset photos they posted.