North Sugarloaf, NH
June 12, 2004


The Presidential Range as seen from North Sugarloaf at Sunset


Presidentials again just before sunset

Sunset begins

Last week's Sunset hike up Artist's Bluff and Bald Rock wasn't enough to satisfy my enjoyment of the setting sun. Saturday brought excellent weather with very light clouds dancing on the horizon of a bright blue sky, perfect conditions for a spectacular sunset. Sharon and I gathered up our gear Saturday afternoon and drove up to Sugarloaf WMNF Campground to catch the sunset on North Sugarloaf with plans to hike Mount Eisenhower the following afternoon.


Clouds add to the color

Sharon watches on as the sun goes down

After setting up camp and pitching our tent, we gathered up our light weight equipped packs for the short one hour jaunt to the summit of North Sugarloaf. With plenty of light before the sun began it's final descent below the horizon, we slowly but steadily ascended the Sugarloaves' Eastern flank. The Trestle Trail begins within the Sugarloaf Campground itself and quickly descends to a sturdy wooden bridge crossing over Zealand River. The trail then meanders around and about slightly before coming back towards the river and heading North high above it.


Different angle playing with the shadows

Not quite what I was looking for, but the colors...

The Trestle Trail soon meets the intersection where the Sugarloaf Trails leaves to the west and begins a gradual ascent through an excellent forest and over some muddy areas and bog bridges. Soon several very very large boulders are reached that toward above us and the climb began in earnest. While not excessively steep, the trail is unrelenting in it's vertical gain for a solid 15 minutes. The trail is well maintained and features several stone steps to assist with the ascent. Soon the ridge is reached where we took a right heading towards Sugarloaf North. After a brief descent around the steep north facing summit cliff, the trail bends around the west and south flank of the cliffs. The summit is quickly gained from here after a very brief steep section and views immediately open up towards the east with a grand view of nearly the entire Presidential Range with Mount Washington taking center stage.


More shadow fun with the sunset, excellent color

One of my best pictures ever.

After many moments passed of taking in the views to the East, we ducked into the trees and quickly emerged on the Summit's West facing granite cliff with a spectacular view of the town of Twin Mountain below us and Mount Hale and North Twin to our South. Again, the Presidential Range was also in view creating excellent 300 degree views. We brought out snack and water and waited for the show to begin while being serenaded by a rock band playing at a bar in Twin Mountain and swaying to the sounds of Lynard Skynard.

The sun soon begin an epic descent towards the horizon and the sky lit up in those wonderful shades of color most people go a life time without experiencing first hand. The pictures never seem to do a sunset justice as the myriad of colors capable of being produced in the wild can never be rendered by monitors, pixels, nor print. The show continues long after the sun is no longer visible since the light cloud cover captures the rays of the sun peaking over the horizon. From start to finish, the sunset lasted about an hour and a half, although the colors were still varied and vibrent when we began our descent. But not before laying down and slowly counting off the first dozen appearing stars of the soon to be night time sky.


Sun is almost gone, but the show continues

Sharon watches on

The question we both asked each other while sharing this splendid low elevation summit alone was "why aren't more people up here to see this?" And the answer to our question took shape during the descent. While not as intimidating as descending a mountain in the dark by myself, having a hiking partner only moderately silenced the tension caused by the shadows at the end of my headlamp and flashlight. I kept reminding myself that the only thing different between a day time hike and a night time hike is the amount of light during the hike. The day light is nothing but a false sense of security when compared to a night time hike as anything can happen at any time. But it is human nature to stare into an unknown blackness and wonder "what if," but I reigned in my imagination as much as possible. As with any irrational fear, it is almost always proven fruitless through exploration.

Upon reaching the campground, we immediately struck up a campfire and enjoyed perfectly flamed hot dogs. Unfortunately, our hiking plans for Sunday were ditched as I began to have breathing issues and did not sleep well during the evening. After a frigid night under a canopy of more stars than I remember seeing in nearly ten years, we packed up camp and headed into the Town of Twin Mountain for an awesome breakfast at Monroe's. Quite a wonderful weekend despite having to bag Sunday's plans due to my breathing issues.


The last rays of light last for an hour after the sun has set

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