Being an Asheville photographer for over a decade, Badger has shot the venerable Mount Pisgah from various locales, including several Blue Ridge Parkway vantage points, the Biltmore Estate promenade, the incredible Hominy Valley view and numerous others. The one scene that I’d never captured was one not of the mountain but from the top of the mountain.

Thomas Mabry and Kitty Myers on the summit platform. The cloud deck had just begun to open (photo by Thomas Mabry)

At 5,721 feet, Mount Pisgah is the landmark that owns the near horizon of the Land of the Sky. From all around town, it’s the region’s sentinel, WLOS-TV tower and all. Rock Sprite Kitty Myers and I had each hiked to its summit separately years before we met in 2014. This past Saturday in September, we decided to go up together.

While various hiking guides rate the Mount Pisgah Trail from moderate to difficult all the way to hard, reviewers on AllTrails maintain that the last third of the hike is most problematic, with steep rock steps that are significantly worse when wet. As we hiked the trail after waiting out a thunderstorm crossing the Pisgah Ridge, we found out. The rock steps on the 1.2-mile, 712-foot vertical climb were wet and slick. Late-summer humidity of 94 percent after the storm exacerbated the overall difficulty. On a dry day, the route asks for strong legs and lungs; on a wet one, it asks for that and for balance too.

Our journey up was inside a thick cloud as well. We took our time, and, sweating profusely, we eventually summited soaked but sans injury. At the top, we found ourselves still socked in. After a respite where we rested on the new platform — resigned to a no-view afternoon — the fog tore open, and the ridges and valleys below quickly became visible. After an obligatory selfie, Rock Sprite noticed a rainbow appearing in the break, hovering above a cloud bank with a now visible Asheville, 16 miles distant.

That is the image I didn’t capture on my first ascent years ago: not the tower, not the postcard 360, but the mountain letting go of the fog, revealing a surprise rainbow. Badger likes to say that in order to capture the most memorable images, it’s necessary to place oneself in a position to be successful, even when the viewing conditions are sketchy. When we made it back to our waiting vehicle, our Mount Pisgah hike once again proved that effort can indeed engender terrific rewards.

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