Two weeks ago yesterday, dad dragged Connor and I all the way to the top of Verstovia. It was a nice day with a few clouds and it wasn’t too warm, but I needed to tie my hoodie around my waist so I didn’t overheat. I was the only one not wearing shorts, but I was wearing a T-shirt.
I brought along my camera along with my lunch ( a Peanutbutter and jelly sandwich and some broccoli) and water in a fannypack so I didn’t have to have a bunch of things banging around as I walked.
Connor was faster than both of us and beat us to the first view point where we briefly stopped for a break before continuing onwards, but he slowed down.
We also took a short break at the second view point, and I was pretty much halfway through my water after drinking some there. And we took another break at the top of the switchbacks on the ridge line and I nibbled on some broccoli and almost got bitten by a black and white mosquito, but I whacked it and it fell onto a plant leaf and stayed there for a bit.
There was a nice breeze some of the time as we were walking on the ridge line.
Somewhere along the way, close to picknick rock, for a reason I cant remember, dad challenged Connor to jog/sprint the rest of the way to the long staircase just before Picknick rock. Connor sort of did. But he stopped a few times.
When we made it to the staircase, I stopped more than once just before it and went pretty slowly along the way up until the end of it where I pretty much sprinted the rest of the way. That was a bit painful.
When we made it to Picknick rock, we ate our lunches and dad gave me some of his chips too after I asked for some! (I had not packed a big enough lunch for me, apparently.)
I looked over at the peak dreadingly a few times, and also watched a few people that were making their way up to the peak as well.
It was steep getting up to the shoulder, but there were plenty of plants to hold on to and there were also a few bugs buzzing around as well.
Once we got to the shoulder, it was cloudy/misty where we were heading and also kinda steep with very little trail to begin with (I wasn’t really bothered by that part), then it got really steep with loose rocks and some not great stepping places. One of which I stood at for a moment before having to really pull my up my leg to get on, and still almost slipped. (There wasn’t any great handholds there either)
Before that part, Connor had found a Bristletail on a rock, (which dad had been looking for some that were on a mountain) but we didn’t want to go back down so decided to look for them when we were heading back.
It was also cloudy at the top of the mountain, and also bigger than it looked from down on picknick rock.
Three other people were up there as well, two looked like they were a group while the other guy was on his own.
After I found a place to sit, (which was by dad) I got a bit colder, so I put my hoodie back on.
Dad gave me a few of his chips and grapes while we were there, and Connor sat a little ways away from us, but I think he also took a few chips.
The sun broke through the clouds at one point, but not for long, and the two people left, leaving just us and that one guy, who was not too far away from us.
(I forgot to mention, there were also a ton of flies, I even saw a fuzzy bee mimic pretty soon after we got to the top that wasn’t all that skittish and dad and I got pictures of it!)
Maybe halfway through our time there, I felt a hot pain on the underside of my arm by my wrist and jerked out my arm, grabbing onto the place where it had happened. At first I thought it had been on of those biting flies dad and I had seen once called Deerflies, but then I looked over and saw a wasp on the rock not too far away from me. I apparently had gotten stung.
I’m not certain how it got there, I didn’t hear it as I thought I would. Perhaps it was a ninja wasp. It must’ve gone up my sleeve and gotten somewhat stuck when I shifted and stung me to get out, or something like that. Either way, the wasp flew away a minute or two later, so it was probably fine, which was nice.
I cried a bit, probably from the shock. (I think I saw the one guy that was up there looking once) It didn’t really hurt bad, and hurt less as long as I kept my hand on it. It gained a red dot, which dad took a picture of, since it was my first sting and I took a picture of it later as well. It also swelled up a bit and felt somewhat bruised for a while and sensitive to touch. Otherwise, I was fine! And I’ve now had my first wasp sting… on the very top of a mountain. For some reason I find that slightly amusing.
I also still have a bit of the red there.
Eventually, the clouds cleared up enough to get a good view, but that was sort of on and off, so we had to scramble around a bit to get photos. (Connor and I also saw a Red-tailed hawk down below)
After that, we headed down and took a slightly different rout with more grass, which I honestly preferred to what I imagined going down the way we came up would’ve been like. Though, not long after we started down, dad realized he hadn’t started his track and went all the way back up. It wasn’t really a downside as I didn’t need to go back up with him, I just needed to wait, which I was fine with.
When we reached the shoulder again, we saw/met two woman one had (I think) a knee brace and they were wondering if it got any easier. In the end, the one without the knee brace continued onward while the other one waited on the shoulder.
The way down the shoulder was a bit steep, but not too bad.
By the time we got back, it was a little too late for me to get all my stuff done and go to the library like I wanted, but I was okay with that, there had been a nice view.
(I also forgot to say that we saw the fluffy bee mimic just before we headed down and I even got it on my finger and dad got some photos of it!)
WOW!
grandpa