Feelin the Breezy Breeze

               A challenge is something difficult which requires effort and determination...
   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

  At this point we hustled over the summit. I stopped for a few more photos and when I looked back at Evan he was disappearing down the trail (I think he had enough of the wind).

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

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