Chasing Sunsets: The Kanc.
“Let’s do it” Evan said as we piled out of the car and scrambled over the four-foot snow bank. We crossed an old covered bridge that went over the river we had followed most of the day, and onto a logging road cascading out of the White Mountains of New Hampshire. We were on a hunt, and no snow bank or iced-over road would stop us.
It was all uphill, huffing and puffing our way through trails covered in snow packed into thick ice. MicroSpikes bit the ice with each step. The little metal teeth that strap onto boots made me feel like I could climb everest. A feeling you really need when you are blasting up an icy mountain, chasing a winter sunset.
The guidebook was somewhat ambiguous about the location of the best spot so we settled for an outcrop that put us above the surrounding flora. From our vantage point we could see ant-like headlights navigating the twisting Kancamagus highway. Looking out to the next ridge, we could tell the heavy cloud cover was going to make for an anticlimactic sunset. Jake and Alex wanted to head down before it got too dark.
“Just a few more minutes guys” I begged.
We stood wordlessly, listening to the wind blowing rhythmically through the trees. A rhythm eerily similar to a person speaking. Rising sharply and falling slowly, pausing for a breath and briefly gusting to punctuate a question mark. When you are first in the mountains, you hear nothing. It is a perceived silence. If you start to listen though, you can hear the wind rip through valleys near and far. The closer you tune to nature’s song, the more distinct each bird or rattling leaf becomes. This song and the experiences it takes to hear is what pulls me to the challenge of filling my soul with adventure and people that matter. Just before I turned to say we could leave, the clouds slipped us a peep of light and color on an adjacent mountain top, and it made all the difference.
This sunset was not the most stunning I have seen but it taught my friends and I an important lesson about waiting a minute longer. It was also a great reminder that what you need is not what you are always looking to see. That is why I chase sunsets.
