Evan's planned sunrise for the month of June brought us to the eastern edge of the White Mountains where South Moat Mountain overlooks the bustling area of Conway N.H.. This area is a touristy area, which usually has many people and a lot of traffic, but at 3am on a Monday morning we had our choice of parking at the trail head and the whole mountain to ourselves.
We were staying a few miles away, at Attitash in Bartlett, NH, so the detailed coordination of the complex operation of getting to the summit for sunrise was made a bit easier than some treks in the past. Wake up at 2:30am and at trail head by 3am, easy!
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| The start was dark... |
The trail started as an easy hike on old logging roads in the darkness of the forest, then quickly brought us to a steady incline before arriving on ledges as the sky was slowly illuminating and the lights from the towns were scattered on the grounds below. The sparkles of stars throughout the dark western sky were slowly giving way to the brightness from the east.
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| The eastern sky illuminating |
After hiking just under three miles we arrived at the summit only to be greeted by steady, high, cold winds. The timing was great considering we only needed to wait a short time before the heater broke the horizon and displayed it's hues of colors among the trees and mountains surrounding us.
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| The under cast clouds meandering through the valley. |
The grayish white clouds in the valley below seemed to creep along in a methodical way, in unison with the slight breeze in the lower elevations, while the clouds in the distance, above the eastern horizon, were reflecting soft tones of orange.
The mountains around us were slowly brightening, from the summits to the valleys below, as the sun was rising above the eastern horizon, casting it's light across the earth's floor beneath us.
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| The eastern horizon before the sun made it's appearance |
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| The sun's rays illuminating the Presidential's to the North |
Attempting to take photos, while still observing and enjoying the sky within the five to ten minutes it takes the sun to rise, can be a challenge in itself. Everywhere I turn there's a change in the colors and tones reflecting off clouds, mountains and particles in the distance.
As usual Evan let's me take a few silhouette shots, which are becoming my favorite.
With the sun completely emerged above the horizon, we take one more look around as Evan does his peak naming of all the large naturally formed lumps in the earth's surface that surrounds us before heading down.
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| Evan leading the descent. |
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| The descent always shows the beauty we missed in the dark. |
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The trek down is always pleasurable, as I never am fond of taking the same trail, it's almost as if it's a different one, because of the daylight we are able to view everything we missed in the dark on the ascent.
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| A well worn raised trail near the summit. |
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| This trail seems to be an old logging or fire tower road. |
Before we knew it we had arrived back to our vehicle with our usual sense of accomplishment and need for nourishment.
This was an awesome hike and spectacular summit. We were fortunate to have done it so early and in return we had the trail, summit and views all to ourselves.
Evan's blog: South Moat Sunrise. Evanhikes
GPS Track: GPS June sunrise
