Nice Day

2008-06-08 19:24:54.000 – Ted Letcher,  Summit Intern

View of Clay with Mysterious Snow Field

After spending the first half of the shift awash in a thick swampy fog, I was not about to let a day like today be wasted inside the observatory. So I used an intriguingly symmetric stain on a distant snow field as an excuse to hike over to Mt. Clay. So I packed a bag of gold fish and a couple of small granola bars and set out to investigate the snow. Upon arrival I was disappointed to find that the mystery stain was in fact plain old dirt arranged by (I can only suppose) random chance in an elliptical fashion. However my hike over to Clay and back was not all for naught, as I got a chance to get out of the building and exercise thus warding off cabin fever for another day.

So as I sit here writing the comment and starring out the window at the lazy cumulus ambling atop the higher summits I cannot help but feel that it would be a crime to forgo mentioning the nice weather that so rarely graces the peaks of the Presidential Range. For one thing, it’s not foggy, along with that, the winds are less than 30 mph, a gentle breeze by Mount Washington standards. Lastly and perhaps most notably the temperature has been flat out warm. In fact the observatory has tied the daily record for the high temperature at 64 degrees.

Later this evening the summit will once again slip into the fog and before it does I feel it my duty to take this opportunity and address the importance of taking advantage of these rare mild days on the mountain. It is necessary to take your eyes off of the computer screen and go outside on days like today, whatever your justification to do so may be. For up here on top of the Rock Pile, days like this are on the ever growing list of wonders in this world which are far and few in-between.

Ted Letcher,  Summit Intern