Mt Alander Sunrise. (The preseason to our challenge)

  It is said that 93-year old “Aunt” Jess Guernsey in 1808 stumbled upon the Flume Gorge in Franconia Notch, New Hampshire while searching for a new fishing spot. I often wonder if she was a fictitious character made up to draw attention to the impressive waterfalls and gorge that Flume Brook flows through. To think of a 93-year old bushwacking through the rugged terrain of the area over 200 years ago is truly impressive. I think most people at that age would struggle walking on the trails and boardwalks that have been built there today.

  I learned the story of “Aunt” Jess as a young kid and was impressed with the thought of being that old and still able to hike in those rugged conditions. Since then I’ve made it a point to stay active in the outdoors and to keep my goal in life more towards my health than accumulating possessions. She remained active in a life necessity situation, when today it is much more easy to live a sedentary lifestyle. Most people today couldn’t do what “Aunt” Jess did at age 50, this is why I have chosen to be active daily and introduce my kids to remain active as well.

  As some of you may know my youngest son has far surpassed my expectations of his enthusiasm and knowledge for hiking, especially here in New England. If you haven’t checked out his blog I highly recommend it: Evanhike.blogger .  

  With all that being said, as I approach my 49th birthday this month, I'm quickly approaching the half century mark and feel I've been accomplishing my goal to remain active. Throughout these next 12 months we will be attempting to view a sunrise once a month from a summit hopefully ending on the day I turn 50. The rules are: 1) Evan will do all the planning. 2) Every summit must be in a different area of New England and New York. 3) My only job is to get my old ass up each summit at an obscenely early time... Fair enough.

  For a trial run this month Evan had planned an overnight hike in the Southern Taconics, which weaved us in and out of MA, CT and NY with the trail starting on the border of MA and CT on East St in Mt Washington, MA. 

  We started before sunrise on Mt Frissell Trail as it was fairly flat traveling through thick Mountain Laurel until we approached the steep, short rock scramble of Round Mtn in CT. The timing of reaching the first ledges, with a view facing east as the sun rose in a semi cloudy sky, rejuvenated us from such a chilly early morning. 

Sunrise from Round Mtn

 Once over Round Mtn. we had a slight down hill until we reached the rocky scramble up the side of Mt Frissell, which brought us back into MA and quickly warmed us as we continuously climbed and scrambled up the steep and lengthy rock ledges. The steepness of the trail quickly brought us to the 2453' summit of Mt Frissell, which is not a very high summit, but in these parts of NE it's well above everything else. The summit is nothing to write about, but the trail went on and soon came to a focal point to this area, Connecticut's high point, which is on the side of Mt Frissell's summit.

Evan and Lucy on CT's high point.

  The trail continued along the border of Massachusetts and Connecticut, in an unusually straight line in trail standards, until we reached the Tri-point of MA, CT and NY marked by a granite stone with the state names on each side.

Tri-State Marker

  From the Tri-point it was a short easy walk to complete the 1.8 mile hike from the East Road trail head (where we started) to the South Taconic Trail, which had beautiful views stretching across the Hudson Valley to the Catskills... If you're interested in the exact summits we were looking at please read Evans blog entry (https://evanhike.blogspot.com/2018/11/overnight-in-southern-taconics.html) He's definitely more knowledgeable in that area.

The view across the Hudson Valley

  We headed South on the double track along the South Taconic Trail and quickly approached the moderate grade up to the fields on Brace Mt., which supplied us with open space for strong cold winds coming from the Hudson Valley that the patriotic wind sock on the summit showed.

The open fields on Brace Mtn.

The windsock showing a strong wind.

 After stopping to enjoy the sights and refueling with some trail food, we headed back the way we came, heading North on the South Taconic Trail, quickly passing by the Mt Frissell Trail that we had come from. The views continued as we hiked along the ridge on the eastern slopes of the Hudson Valley until dipping down back into large hardwoods and stone walls that once were boundary lines scattered on what probably were wide open pastures.

  We trekked 2.7 miles from the intersection of Mt Frissell Trail until we arrived at the moderately steep climb up Alander Mtn. At just under one mile (.8) of climbing we were on ledges that rewarded us with some fantastic views, once again, stretching across the farmlands of the Hudson Valley.

The exposed ledges on Alander.

  A little after passing the ledges we dropped down into a col, with the true summit of Alander Mtn east of us, where an old Fire Warden's cabin from the 1920's/ 30's still remains as a hikers "resort" (Any structure stronger than a tent with a wood stove is a resort in these conditions.). With the temperatures possibly dropping down to the low 20's- high teens, we were happy to skip the tent and stoke a fire in the cabin.

  The sun setting behind the Catskills was so picturesque it almost made the bone chilling winds, whipping across the valley, feel nonexistent.

   After sunset we worked our way back to the cabin, under the light of our headlamps, and were welcomed by the warmth of the fire we had started earlier in the wood stove. We awoke before dawn the next morning only to find the temps had dropped tremendously, which had frozen the standing water outside the cabin that Lucy (Our Goldendoodle) was drinking from the day before, so we bundled up and returned to the ledges waiting for our first sunrise to start this year leading into my half century mark... and it didn't disappoint!

  There's something about a sunrise that seems to rejuvenate me, no matter how much I've exerted myself the prior day or how little sleep I get. It's a new beginning each day, a wheel that keeps turning, as Journey once said: "The morning sun is rising, It's kissing the dirty air", I believe it's cleansing the air for a clean start to a new begining.
  We quickly broke down camp and packed our backpacks in preparation for an easy 8 mile hike back to our vehicle via Alander Mtn Trail (1.2 miles) to Ashley Hill Trail (3.6 miles) and returned us to the Mt Frissell Trail near the Tri-State marker that we passed the day before. These trails were very scenic, following streams (One crossing that we almost didn't make dry), pine groves, steep ravines and camps. I'll let some pictures show the beauty:

  All we had left was a 1.5 mile trek up and over Mt Frissell and across Round Mtn returning to our awaiting vehicle.
  This was a fantastic hike to prepare for our year long quest of a sunrise every month. I'm optimistic that Evan's planing will not disappoint what New England has to offer, my only fear is that nature will not supply the forecast for sky's clear enough for views. Only time will tell and no matter what the weather has in store at least we will be outside!

Our Route: Day 1- https://www.strava.com/activities/1960905028
                   Day 2- https://www.strava.com/activities/1960904778