Sunrise?

[tenderfoot]

We've done a few winter peaks and always camp out one or two nights. My last non-peak trip in January I hiked for about two hours in the dark and found that rather pleasant. Was wondering if there are favorite peaks to catch sunrise off of?

For example was considering hiking into the campsite near MacIntyre brook and trying either Wright or Algonquin? Or there is a site on the trail to Lower Wolfjaw. Lake Arnold gives us a jump on Colden (although I would hope the 'wet' park of Lake Arnold trail is solid). So plan would be to not do entire hike at night, but an early pre-dawn start (nothing like a deadline)

Thinking early March.

[Viking]

For many years, while on that 15 year journey to capture the 46, I began hiking a great deal at nite. It started with my drives from Rochester after work. Pull in to where ever at about 10:30 or so and hit the trail, often times solo. Back home on Saturday nite.

I hate the heat, so hiking at nite left me going downhill in the heat of day. A great deal of fun, being alone on Marcy as the sun comes up. Of course, the many great vantage points along the way made for some spectacular, and sometimes creepy, rest stops.

When I first started doing this 20 years ago I never saw anybody else on the trail. As time went on an oncoming headlamp at 4 am wasn't strange at all.

Had a rather interesting discussion at the lodge on my first nite time walk up Marcy. Two rangers stopped me at about midnight in the parking lot. You had to have a bear canister at the old dam. One wouldn't let me go because I didn't have the canister, but the other said since I was hiking through I could go. After explaining I had done this many times before they decided to let me go, but recommended I make a bunch of noise around the campsites.

So, I say, try leaving the day before, have 2 sets of batteries for the Petzl, watch the sunrise from the summit, and walk downhill in the heat. And when people marvel at your incredible hiking speed, you can have some fun.