twenty-seventh tree
I went hiking up Whitaker Peak with thoughts of sunset and moonrise. The report said there would be 38% cloud cover by 6PM, an hour after the various rising and setting, and I was pretty certain it would be the wrong 38%. I finally decided to go anyway, and was ready an hour after I really wanted to start. The hike itself turns out to be quite easy, at least along the generally paved road. The lookout I read about seems to have vanished totally. The trouble is, the road doesn't actually go up the peak, so I followed the ridge along to it hoping I would find a better trail down. I didn't find a better trail down, so had to leave the top before the finish of the sunset show to make sure I had enough light to find my own way down. The moon made a brief appearance through clouds before it was scheduled to come up, so I guess my moonrise source wasn't very good. It came out into clear sky as I got to a bit of good trail I had spotted that paralleled the road but up on the ridge where the road was more boring, so I hiked that. Rejoining the road, the moon was starting to get shrouded again, but the only thing left was to roll on down the smooth road. Pockets of air were warm while other pockets were crisp with cold as I made my way. The clouds generally just served to make things more beautiful, so it was very much worth going in spite of the weather coming up tomorrow.
After getting home, I found a moment to sketch a couple trees. There aren't many trees up on the mountain, and those are almost all oaks in sheltered spots. But I found these in a particularly steep and tight north facing fold on the mountain.
After getting home, I found a moment to sketch a couple trees. There aren't many trees up on the mountain, and those are almost all oaks in sheltered spots. But I found these in a particularly steep and tight north facing fold on the mountain.