That’s my neck of the woods and my wife and I hike Pisgah trails all the time. Condolences. RIP.
I can remember as a kid in the 1960s...whenever a severe lightning storm would roll in...my dad, the farmer, would stop all operations and we’d retreat to the shed or carport. There was a healthy respect. We had a dozen cows killed one night...all sitting under a tree as lightning struck.
As I look around today, I don’t see that respect. Folks will still play baseball...hike...sit under trees in a storm...and work in a open field.
I've been up there a few times myself. We'd come up from the Del Rio side but haven't ever hiked it. Lightning is bad news on a mountain top. Thing of it is you really might not realize the danger as it's been known to hit quite a considerable distance from where you hear an approaching storm.