After all the meet ups yesterday, today I met a new hiker, Cookie Monster, who is another academic in the field of music. It's always good to commiserate with other academics and discover that our frustrations are cross-disciplinary.
More importantly, I summited Mooselaucke, which is the last mountain in the Whites, and the last 4,000' peak we'll see for a long time. All day was rain and clouds, but just as I was climbing to the top, the weather cleared. I was happy that I'd get some views as my days in the whites came to an end. Strangely, as I approached the peak, I could see th at it was in clouds. I was in the bright sunshine, and only a few hundred yards away it was clearly cloud covered. The light was an eerie orange-yellow because the sun was so close by, and yet visibility was limited.
The strangest moment came as I started to descend from the top. I was walking along a track between some short pines (still above the tree line) when I noticed an eerie silence. I stopped, an there was nothing to hear but ny own breathing and moving. No birds, no insects. Not even the rustling of leaves in a breeze, or the whistling of wind currents. This strange silence in the clouds felt really ominous. Luckily there was never more than the sense of strangeness, but it was a eemarkable.thing to experience.
Start: mid North & South Kinsman Peaks
End: 1 mile past Mooselaucke peak.
Distance: 15 miles
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