1 January 2024

Hike / 16.8 miles / 1,982 ft ascent / 6 hours 51 minutes

I left home at 5:17am, a full two and a bit hours before sunrise. It’s a little over 6 miles from home to the top of Weverton Cliffs and I wanted to get there to see the sunrise. Hence, the early start.

I walked under the beam of my headtorch for the first two hours. Life was a small cone of light in front of me.

The Appalachian Trail sneaks under 340, along a narrow concrete path with rough slopes dropping away to Israel Creek, a long way down. Of course, all of that was hidden in the dark this morning. But I love these liminal places, spaces at the intersection of urbanity and wild land on the environmental Venn diagram.

I reached the lookout just after 7am, half hour before sunrise. There were already warm colors peeking over the horizon in the East. I took many photos between slurps of hot tea, enjoying the light show unfold. It was a beautiful morning, although not a knockout sunrise this time. I’ll have to come back for that.

By 8.15am I was cold and ready to get moving again. The morning was well underway.

My next stop was the Ed Garvey shelter, a couple of miles further north along the AT. I’ve walked there before and it’s a lovely, mellow section of the AT along the top of a broad ridge.

I left the shelter with nary a cloud in the sky. I was skeptical of the forecast of snow arriving within the hour. Gradually cloud built up in the distance as I hiked back towards the lookout.

By the time I reached Weverton Cliffs again, the weather front — a thick band of cloud bearing snow — had arrived in full force. The view disappeared in front of my eyes.

All-in-all, an excellent hike.