I have the occasional ideas in the back of my head of things I’d like to try. I don’t frequently voice them and then only to certain people. So try this one out. Get up at 2:15 AM. Meet before 3 AM and travel to begin a hike before 4 AM. Make it a cold, windy morning on an exceptionally rough trail. Add patches of ice that you didn’t know would be there. Include parts of the ridge that are windswept and the trail runs along the cliff edge. Make it your goal to reach the summit at 4.5 miles at sunrise. That describes the first half of our hike from Boones Fork Parking Area on the Parkway to Grandfather Mountain on Saturday. The two guys that I persuaded to go along agreed that the trail was significantly easier by light of day than by light of headlamp. I had to throw out a full half of the pictures because steadying yourself in 30+ mph wind makes pictures a blur. I got back home before noon and spent the remainder of the day with my wife conversing and pruning the apple trees. It was a wild idea but I’m glad I tried it once.
Windy Time exposure
Clouds Obscured Horizon Sunrise
Attic Window Peak
Coming off McCrae Peak
In the Boulder Patch
McCrae Peak from Attic Window Peak
Morning Glow
The Attic Window
Indian Cave on Ice
Hump Mtn “just beyond” the Grandfather Golf Course
Alpine Meadow Rest
Attic Window Peak from Calloway Peak
CreatorWorship 
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