roads vs. walking trails.

so saturday when i met the family up at cataloochee ski resort to watch my brother snow board... i realized one thing...

i can be real dumb sometimes.

i've been up to cataloochee countless times over the last few years, but i have always had to park in the farthest lot out and walk up because of how many people are there. andddd there are usually hot snowboarding guys directing the parking 

(we all know that helps tremendously).

well apparently saturday wasn't as crowded as normal because the parking lot just above the ski shop still had some spaces open...

so i drive towards the parking lot and see two roads... 

one of which looks like it leads to nowhere, the other looks like it's meant for a 4wheeler because of how narrow it is.

being terrified to get somewhere in these dang mountains and not be able to turn around and being kidnapped by some backwoods inbread... i decided i would just kick the jeep into 4wd and try the smaller road.

this "smaller" road however, isn't just a normal road. 

no, it's uphill (duh), has one tiny little railing on one side attempting to keep you from falling off of the mountain, and the other side is nothing but a ditch... with rocks. big rocks.

but for some reason i thought this was the better choice. cue dumb alert.

halfway up i start panicking wondering what in the hell i have just gotten myself into... because i'm bouncing up and down like a roller coaster and praying to God i don't fall off the side. for some reason i decide that i should probably just keep going though because trying to back down that thing would have been disastrous.

like it wasn't already a disaster... 

anywho... i made it. somehow.

and when i got to the top i saw all of these little 2wd cars sitting there 

and i just stared in utter disbelief thinking how in the hell they made it up here.

whatever.

so i walked down to the ski shop, hung out for a few hours, and watched my little brother snowboard. by the time i was ready to leave i told my mom that she needed to walk up to my car with me and then ride back down the parking lot mountain, 

because i was too scared to do it by myself.

she looked at me like i was crazy.

because she said she had no problems getting to the parking lot.

so we walk outside and dumbfounded she points at the road... the one i did not take... the one i thought lead to nowhere and kidnappers... and asks me how in the world i had problems getting up the road when it simply circles around the mountain and up to the lot.

well ya see, there was my problem... that's not the road i took.

i took the one that we were currently WALKING up.

because apparently that's a WALKING trail. not a road. not a road in the least bit.

i drove up a walking trail people. a damn walking trail.

when there was a regular road to my left that lead to the same place.

moral of the story?

if you're on a mountain and a road looks questionable... it's probably NOT a road.

ya live and ya learn, people. 

and i still do not know if anyone saw me or not.

we're just gonna go ahead and say that they didn't.