what a beautiful face i have found in this place that is circling all 'round the sun.

wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight... Dylan Thomas

Morning y'all,

It's a beautiful, cloudy morning up top. The high yesterday reached 40 degrees. The low was 24 degrees, recorded early yesterday morning. It is currently 30 degrees and partly cloudy up top. The mountain received .02" of rain yesterday and there is no snow remaining up top. The trails have a bit of black ice and are tricky in areas. Please be careful if you intend to summit!

It was another spectacular day to be a winter caretaker yesterday. I went for a stunning night hike up Alum yesterday evening. The woods were oh so silent and it was just clear enough to make out the primeval shapes and forms of the great mountains all around us. It is a beautiful simplicity, to have this all too grand world reduced to what your 2 oz, 100 lumen headlamp can unfurl from the seemingly forever darkness. I kept hoping to run into some of my bear or bobkitten neighbors, but alas, they appear to be forever out of grasp. As much as I yearn to meet my mountain neighbors and have a true and wild encounter, it is good to have things beyond your reach. It keeps you hungry. Curiosity is a kind of perfection.