Zombie Apocalypse

My morning walks are becoming epic tales.  This morning, I started up the trail to McAfee's Knob at 6:13 am.  At 6:13:30,  I heard a rustling on the ridge above my fire road trail.  There, silhouetted like the evil in Disney's Fantasia against the morning sky, was the largest black bear I've ever seen.  Over the past few years,  I've seen quite a few black bears on my hikes.  Last year, I almost stepped on one.  But this was far different.  This bear was massive.  he was only about 50 feet away from me and very close to Rt 311.  He didn't ever hear me thanks to a truck struggling to gain the top of Catawba Mountain. and he didn't smell me thanks to a favorable wind.  So I just stood there and watched him amble along the ridge for a few minutes.  Amazing sight!  

My hike went along, and I made it to the top by 7:45.  I THOUGHT I was all alone...but as I wandered from the Catawba side of the rocks to the Roanoke side,  I heard voices.  It was a group of very wild looking people. One of the dudes stood up with his Lion King locked mane  and said, after a tremendous belch, "Hey man...beautiful day, right?"  We exchanged a few words while I noted that two or three others were just sitting on the rocks staring into the foggy oblivion.  I said that it looked like they were heading somewhere.  He said, "No doubt, man.  We came up here early this morning to catch the sunrise.  Now I think we might be heading out to Tinker Cliffs."   I bid them farewell in their quest to catch the sun.  As fate would have it,  I had to pass by them again a few minutes later as I worked back to the trail. 

 "Going down already?" 

"Yup," I said,  "That's what I do."  

So I went on down the trail a bit and took the side trail that leads immediately to the power line.  From there I hiked back up to the ridge where I found my giant white rock.  This is a strange rock that sits squarely in the power line cut and is visible from I-581 by the airport if you look up at McAfee's Knob.  So I sat there and brought out my penny whistle, playing a soulful tune for the trees.  Then, from higher up the mountain, but nearby,  I heard, "Dude,  I think it was coming from down there...is there a trail..."  So I stopped playing and listened, my mind racing toward the Zombie Apocalypse.  I decided to slink away, leaving my mountain in possession of those monsters.