Last year while running up the auto road on Prospect Mt in Weeks State Park, NH I passed an elderly gentleman struggling to walk the mile and a half road to the summit. After making it to the summit I ran down the hiking trail on the backside and looped around to ascend the road for a second lap. Approximately halfway up I noticed the same gentleman sitting on a bench, so I stopped to confirm he was taking a break and not needing assistance, he then asked what I was training for, there was a look of puzzlement in his facial expression when I answered "Life".
After chatting with him for a few minutes I learned of his days training and competing in marathons and other races over the years and now, several years after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, he faces greater challenges just to walk and he's doing it up a mountain. This made my able bodied run seem easy compared to his efforts to reach the summit with his handicap.
We spoke a few more moments exchanging compliments, he raved about my answer to his question of what I'm training for and I expressed my amazement in his determination to keep challenging himself when he had every excuse to give up and let the disease control him and his life, we both agreed that life would be boring if we didn't set physical challenges, no matter how big or small.
The conversation we had was more beneficial and inspirational to me than the workout itself... Every person's challenge is different.
For those of you that have had the pleasure to snowshoe on trails that have already been packed by others after a storm, I don't have to remind you how easy it can make hiking here in the White Mts, which is where Evan planned our first official sunrise on our quest. The bigger challenges in our sights would be logistics, weather and gear.
Our day starts at midnight (How else could we get a FULL day in). After a quick 3 1/2hr nap I quickly wake Evan and Bella (Our Golden Retriever) and we are out the door driving three hours to the trail head of Webster- Jackson trail in Crawford Notch, NH. Arriving a little after 3am.
The temperature at the trail head was in the single digits with a slight breeze. Moisture crystals floating in the air were reflecting the light of our headlamps, which gave the appearance of tinsel.
After fastening our snowshoes to our boots we were able to start at a pretty fast pace with the snow already packed from other trekkers. The tricky part of hiking in these temperatures is settling into a pace that your physical efforts are keeping you warm enough without excessive sweating that could lead to serious issues when you stop for long periods. With the temperature being in the single digits my efforts were warming me enough to only wear a base layer and no hat most of the way up. At one point I had removed my gloves I was so warm.
We kept a solid pace until we realized we were almost at the summit before 5am, which was well before the 7am sunrise. We decided to slow down, now that we could feel and hear the howling winds as we approached the 4,000' elevation.
There were a few blow downs we had to maneuver around and some steep pitches we dug our spikes from our snowshoes into to climb, but for the most part this hike was an easy one. We quickly broke treeline after the final steep pitch only to be slapped by mother nature's 50-60 mile an hour sustained winds coming from the North. The sky was black all around us with only the light from our headlamps to see where we were going. A few sprinkles of stars scattered the sky between the clouds as we quickly hustled to the east of the summit along the Appalachian Trail until we dropped back into the trees to seek some shelter from the wind.
It was just after 5am and we knew we would have to stay off the summit for at least an hour and a half before the skies would start brightening. I pulled every piece of clothing out of my pack and we layered up and hunkered down for a while.
With great anticipation we noticed the skies beginning to brighten in the crevasses between dark clouds. We wondered to ourselves if this hike would lead to a cloudy sky, which in my opinion the sun's reflection off clouds are what make the morning skies so colorful and different every day, when there's space for the sun to show...
While heading back to the summit, with dark clouds surrounding overhead, I didn't think we would get a morning show of the sun. I looked behind me to the east to see the most unusual fiery orange glow from between layers of dark clouds over a range of mountains to the east. It was a unique show that made me forget how cold it was.
It was disappointing when I tried taking photos with my new GoPro Hero 7 only to have it not work. Luckily my old trusty smartphone was able to capture the amazing skies. It was to damn cold to remove my gloves and try to figure that GoPro out. If this happens again I may be selling it...
We were able to remain just below the summit while watching the skies in a display of warm sunlight reflecting off different cloud layers. Although they're not great quality, due to my dysfunctional GoPro, I'll let the photos I was able to capture show the magnificent sky.
Looking down to Crawford Notch
Looking back over the summit, then watching Evan race out of the wind.
Now that it was light out and we could see the packed trail and it's surroundings, with my mountain biking background, I couldn't help to recognize the trail would have been a perfect run for my Fatbike! It was well "groomed" with fast flowy curves that we mountain bikers can only dream about, and if you crash you have two feet of powdered snow off trail to cushion your fall!
A mt bikers dream winter trail!
Evan sleeping on the trail.
Great views on the way down through Crawford Notch.
On our way down Evan's MSR snowshoe malfunctioned with three of the straps breaking. Luckily with the condition of the trail he was able to remove them and finish the hike. We also took a short break with some great views at Bugle Cliff looking through Crawford Notch.
Our Quest for a sunrise from a summit every month over the next year has started with a unique one, with some different challenges than the actual climb itself. We didn't see the full sun, but the display that was set before us was truly unique and was worthy to count as our first one.
Happy trails!
My son's account of our hike: Evanhikes
Our Route: Sunrise 1 https://www.strava.com/activities/2008547415#kudos
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