A Cotton Candy Sunrise At Mount Willard
Mount Willard is one of my favorite places to hike in the White Mountains. Why? Because it is short. Ha. Plus it has a killer view, so what’s not to love?!
Because it is a quick and easy hike, it makes it a great trail for a sunrise (or sunset) hike. I went up with my friends Caroline and Theo, leaving MA at 9:00pm and arriving at the trailhead at 11:15pm-ish. Caroline and I slept in the car and Theo slept outside on a sleeping pad, in below freezing temps. Why he chose this, I do not know. He said that around 2:00am someone came by and was shining a flashlight on him. I mean, if I was driving by and saw someone sleeping outside on the side of the road in below freezing temps, I might be curious too.
We woke up at 3:45am and started hiking at 4:00am. I’ve hiked this mountain many times before and for whatever reason I thought it took an hour and a half to get up. Instead it took us a quick 55 minutes and we had a little over an hour before sunrise. It was a clear night so we had some amazing stargazing. Caroline and I also brought sheets and dressed up as ghosts to do the Ghost Photoshoot challenge on Tik Tok….lol.
We were the only ones on the mountain besides someone camping (illegally ooooo). You’re not supposed to camp on Mount Willard but I see why people want to do it. It is such a perfect spot! Just after sunrise another group came up, and as we went back down we saw a few solo hikers as well. This was such a neat experience and I’m glad that I had people to do it with! I had considered going by myself if no one else wanted to, as I am familiar with the trail, but I definitely felt safer hiking with other people. Not trying to get stalked by a bobcat or whatever.
