Fog in the valley, sun on the peaks is common at sunrise in summer. If you sleep in, you miss the show. (Tim Jones photo)
One of my sons was visiting the other day and slept past noon, as young people are wont to do. He’ll grow out of it someday, I hope. Most people don’t discover sunrise until they get a little older. Sadly, some poor folks never do.
While my son was sleeping, I got up early ate breakfast and got in a nice little bike ride just as the sun was beginning to peek into the valleys near my home. I was back before most people get out of bed and had almost a day’s work done before he stirred.
Summer solstice sunrise along the Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway (Tim Jones photo)
If you happen to love getting outdoors and having fun, being a “morning person” has many advantages-especially in the summer. Blue sky summer mornings are gentle and quiet, a pause in the world before the sun begins hammering. They are the perfect time to get out and play.
Here in the northeast the sun officially rises shortly after 05:00 EDT on June 21—the longest day of the year. Which means it starts getting light around 4 most mornings. That sounds pretty early, I know, but hey, it is what it is. By the end of August, the sun doesn’t rise until after 06:00, so you can sleep later and still hit the magic time of morning.
The first advantage to getting up before the sun rises is that you simply have more time to do things. You can get in a bicycle ride, if that’s what you enjoy most, on roads with no traffic at all and still have time for a full day of work—or other play if you are on vacation.
If you prefer hiking, you can get in a walk with only a few mosquitoes for company, then eat breakfast and have the whole day for more miles or something else
If you enjoy being on the water, morning is even more magic. Big lakes that are a total zoo of motorboats later in the day are quiet at dawn—perfect for a tour in a kayak or canoe. The wind is usually calm in the early morning and there are no boat wakes to bounce you around. Get up early enough and you can paddle as far as you want and be home before anyone else invades “your” lake.
The fishing’s usually best in the early morning, too. A week or so ago, I was out on Lake George in the Adirondacks of New York fly fishing for smallmouth bass with John Tarrant of Mickey Finn Fly Fishing (518-423-6074;www.mickeyfinnflyfishing.com). I’d only booked a half day of fishing because this is a popular tourist lake and on a weekend it can get pretty busy. As it was, we spent four hours catching fish constantly, yet saw only two other boats on the lake. As we pulled in at the end of our day, a number of boats were just launching. They’d missed the best part of the day.
Even beachside roads are quiet at sunrise--perfect for a tandem bike ride. (Tim Jones photo)
Even on real summer scorcher days, it’s a rare morning that isn’t at least pleasant enough to make exercise enjoyable. The heating of the summer sun often brings the risk of afternoon thunder showers. I don’t know about you but I’d much rather have gotten in my day’s activities long before the lightning starts snapping around.
Getting up before the sun means you never get to see the end of a televised baseball game. So what? That morning magic is worth it.
Life isn’t a spectator sport. Get out and enjoy!
A LESSON IN SAFETY
As I write this, New Hampshire Fish and Game is continuing a search for Canadian hiker who has been missing for 10 days now on Mount Washington. The missing man is 70-year-old Peter Shintani from Napanee, Ontario, Canada. Shintani has not been seen since 6:30 p.m. on Monday, June 8. He’s been described as an experienced outdoorsman, but the searchers don’t know what kind of gear he had with him at the time he went missing.
The search for Shintani didn’t start until he’d been missing for over a week. Shintani lives alone, was hiking alone, and it wasn’t until he started missing appointments that anyone thought to look for him. They found his truck still parked at Pinkham Notch.
Searchers are going to have an extra tough time finding him because they have no idea of his planned route on the mountain. It’s a big, rough, wild area to search, even with helicopters and dogs.
It’s possible that Shintani suffered a medical emergency on the trail, stumbled into the woods and died. In a case like that nothing could be done to change the outcome for him—though I’m sure his family would like him found so they know what happened.
But it’s also possible that Shintani somehow lost the trail, wandered around, got hurt and is/was waiting for rescue. In a case like this, his failure to tell anyone his plans and to check in before and after his hike could easily have cost him, at best a number of days of extreme discomfort, and, at worst, his life.
And that’s not even taking into account the cost of the search and the risk to searchers in this extremely rough terrain.
Please, people, think before you leave the road.
DO carry enough clothing and gear so you can survive a night or two if the unthinkable happens. If you don’t know what you should be carrying, contact me and I’ll send you a list.
DO tell someone where you are going and when you’ll return. DO leave an itinerary in your vehicle for searchers to use. DO check in when you return.
DO carry a cell phone, DO use it to tell someone if you change your plans, DO NOT rely on it to keep you safe.
“I DON’T WANT TO BOTHER ANYONE”
If you explore alone, consider signing up with www.safecheckin.com. For a small fee each month, they’ll let you check in and out and call in the authorities if you need help. Worth it.
