[at-l] Night Hiking.

[Bob C." <ellen@xxxxxxxxxx (Bob C.)]

When we were kids, my mother took us to a White Mountain National Forest camp
ground (Dolly Copp) for 8-10 weeks each summer. By the age of 10 it had become
routine on full moon nights to climb Mount Washington to watch the sunrise. On
severa; occasions we then continued on to do the Presidential Range and down the
Daniel Webster Scout Trail.

 Once a quarter-century ago I volunteered to climb Bigelow in early March with a
 group of students from a school that specialized in troubled kids. The
 headmaster, however, belatedly ignored our trip and called an all day school
 meeting to deal with some infraction -- real or imagined.

 I noticed that a full moon was scheduled for that night and persuaded the kids
 and two teachers to go anyway. We arrived at the trail head an hour after dark
 -- only to discover the trail we had planned to take to the horn's pond
 lean-tos had been closed at the request of the forest product company owner.
 The blazes had been painted over with brown paint so they would blend in with
 the trees.

 We headed off anyway, following blazes with flashlights, with kids that had
 never before been on snowshoes. We arrived at the shelters about 1 a.m. just as
 the full moon finally peaked over the surrounding mountains. I had forgotten to
 check the time of moon rise.

 It ended well. All the kids made it. We did the range to Avery Peak the next
 day and down the Fire Warden Trail. For some reason, however, the school never
 asked me to lead another hike!

   Weary