Hiking up to the CornerStone

Szarkakő   Cornerstone   click on the pictures to see them in full size!!!

888 meters above sealevel

a climb of about 1500 feet from Udvarhely, where I started out on my bike

I was able to use the bike for about half of the hike.  some of it was pretty steep, so I just pushed

and the steep parts coming downhill were rocky and muddy, so I also walked

It didnt help that my brakes were iffy and that once I got up speed it was really hard to stop

and one thing i didnt need was to be concussed out in the boonies with a difficult maneuver for any rescue vehicle coming my way.

Weather was nice, about 60 degrees, mostly sunny

Coolish breeze at atime, but I was never cold

A couple of times I flashed back to the time I went hiking above squaw valley near Lake Tahoe.  Not quite as high, obviously, and the air was't nearly as thin, but at times the ascent was just as steep.

I would say to myself, ok you can rest after you hit that rock that is about 50 yards ahead.   I reached what I thought was the summit, but it wasnt, then I reached the next , but it wasnt either. I almost decided to turn back, but I kept pushing.  

Not yet at the summit, but this was a nice view over a meadow towards woods and, in the distance, Udvarhely.

This was the spot where I snapped this and the previous picture, it shows my ultimate destination, the hilltop at the top right of the photo.

The hilltop has a sharp dropoff, probably about 200
foot, and then the ground tapers to the river valley.

Apparently it is the remains of an ancient volcano core, here you see the exposed rock as a bluff.  I imagine it is this which gives the name to the hill-- Szarkakő--Cornerstone

I took this on the way back downhill, just to document where I had been.

The official proof, along with the bike i picked up at the flea market when I arrived in town.  Still dont know what to do with it.  I am thinking of donating it to the school where I helped out..Let them hold a drawing of some kind?  RFestrict it only to kids who don't already have a bike?   Not sure, will talk to Péter Julia about it.