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2008-05-17 14:50:28.000 – Lisa Hodges,  Summit Intern

My first summit sunset.

The story of my internship here at the observatory begins with the mountain’s welcoming beautiful weather. I arrived Thursday in the fog, the summit’s typical view, but the next morning awoke to clear skies, calm winds, and a ninety mile view from the green mountains of Vermont all the way to Portland, Maine. If the haze had cleared a bit further, we may have been able to see the Atlantic at the Maine coast. Despite the mountain’s reputation for extreme winds, I was greeted with such a lack of breeze that the bugs ventured out.

Last night, we put dinner on hold as Stacey called us out the sub door to admire the sunset over the green mountains. The sun made a brief appearance from behind the clouds for about five minutes before sinking behind the mountains and leaving a belt of red in the western sky.

This morning, I awoke to the sound of “hot pancakes” from the kitchen before I was greeted by several lenticular clouds to the west of the summit. These unique cloud formations form a beautiful smooth, flat shape, and this morning was the first time that I have seen more than one of them hovering around the same summit. The shining sun was calling me to explore more of the trails around the summit, so I ventured down to the hut at the Lakes of the Clouds with volunteer Cindy. I now understand why the “rock pile” has earned such a fitting nickname after scrambling across boulders all morning. Although spring’s warmer weather is upon us, we pulled out the gators to wade through the last few of the snow fields on our hike. The lakes made the view rewarding, and the turquoise of the water over the snowy lake is not a view that will soon be forgotten.

Lisa Hodges,  Summit Intern