January 18th, 2018

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Good morning,                                                   10:00AM
 
It’s currently 12 degrees and clear. Our 24-hour high was this morning, 11 degrees. The low was – 6 degrees.
 
Cherokee Orchard Road is open at the park boundary but will remain closed above the Twin Creeks Science Center.
 
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I gazed at the temperature before crawling into bed. It felt particularly cold all the sudden. The display read –5 degrees. I sighed and made for the loft…
 
I woke unsure – unsure of how cold it was beyond the warm walls of my cabin. The wind had howled all night. I was surprised to find that it wasn’t nearly as cold as the evening prior. Less worried about frost bite, I confidently walked to sunrise. Yesterday’s footprints remained the only sign of human life on Mt. Le Conte.
 
The sky was crystal clear, allowing the pre-dawn horizon to glow a deep orange. The fiery light was soon burning the tops of the trees. Savoring the scene, I drifted toward the mysterious tunnel that invited me further.
 
Onward,
Seth

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“Let us leave a splendid legacy for our children… let us turn to them and say, this you inherit: guard it well, for it is far more precious than money… and once destroyed, nature’s beauty cannot be repurchased at any price.” — Ansel Adams