A Bittersweet end, or a beginning, on Bromley

 

    It seems like yesterday Evan and I were sitting on the eastern edge of the Hudson Valley, on Mt Alander, talking about a year long challenge of sunrises throughout the Northeast. Now, one year later, with many miles driven, hiked and summits conquered, not to mention the lack of Evan's hair cuts within the past twelve months, mission accomplished!

Evan showing off his year long lack of haircuts

   After looking on a map of all the summits we have been this past year the area that was missing a balloon, on our google map of sunrises, was southern VT, and it wasn't long before Evan could locate a trail system leading to a high point of sorts for a glimpse of another celestial solar array of  morning sunshine, this time following two of the most well known trails in the hiking community.
   The Appalachian Trail and the Long Trail of VT are entwined into the same path in southern VT leading up the southern slopes to the summit of Mt Bromley, where there's ski slopes and buildings from the ski area on the opposite side.

The markings of the Appalachian Trail and the Long Trail 

One of the many useful buildings on the summit...

    The trail was a quintessential Vermont hiking trail covered in rocks and mud, the temperature was just below freezing with parts of the moist ground a bit crusty from frost. It weaved its way gradually through hardwoods with a few small stream crossings that we passed with tunnel vision from the light of our headlamps in the dark early morning hours. The dark canvas sky was scattered with the brightest glitter of starlight that we've seen so far during our night hikes.
   We had a sense of excitement and energy, considering our slumber the night before consisted of only a few hours, as we tramped up a yahooless winding trail. This mountain wasn't declared on any favored lists, so unless you're traveling during peak thru-hiking season your chances of seeing others, especially at this time of day, will be zero! No Yahoo trains to fear, or cloud the quiet air of nature, just the way we, or I, enjoy it.
   As we arrived at the summit,  we were met with strong cold winds from the southwest, since we had time before the solar heater can shed some light and possible warmth our way, I quickly reached for my warm clothing buried in my pack and bundled up to hunker down until the celestial show.
   The summit had ski lifts and ski patrol cabins scattered around, not a summit we were used to, but the region, and solitude, was exactly what we were looking for, so it was perfect!
   The skies were clear and the eastern horizon glowed when we arrived on the summit, but with every passing moment clouds seemed to be coming from the southwest putting us on the cusp of the bottom layer, will the clouds engulf the summit before the sun shows it's splendor in the eastern sky? It's only the beginning...

The sky is clear at first arrival...

Until the moment the sun appears!

It was another unique sunrise

    The clouds made the sun appear as a glowing orange flame burning in the sky through smoke on the horizon.

Shortly after the sunrise the summit was engulfed by clouds

   We found the ski patrol building to be unlocked and proceeded to enter to seek shelter from the wind and cold before our descent, when we discovered the propane heater was set to a cozy 81 degrees!! If every summit was set up in this way these sunrise hikes would be a breeze! We hunkered down for a bit as the winds proceeded to howl outside.

The cozy cabin on the summit

    Once we were warm and the summit finished producing views, by way of cloud cover, we started our descent heading out the same way we came up some time before.
    Our hiking journey reached it's end with a unique show of orange, glowing behind cloud cover that engulfed the clear sky we enjoyed just moments before, but is our journey really ending, or just changing like the skies?
   Although we completed a sunrise view a month from a different location for one year, we are only changing our plans for hiking, not ending anything, so like the sky changing from clear to clouds, so is our hiking future. Nothing is ending, we are just changing, change isn't part of life, it is life. The clear sky was still there, above the clouds, it wasn't an end to anything, just a start to a different view... It's only the beginning, of new plans, only just the start, of what's next... Cheers


Our route: Round trip GPS track
Evan's blog: Bromley-mountain