Sunrise over the snow-capped Mountains

I wanted to make the most of the only full day we had in Franconia, New Hampshire. Add to it the craze of watching at least one of Sunrise or Sunset, though I had planned for both.

We were staying quite close to the ski area of famous Cannon Mountain and its Aerial Tramway. The only concern was the chilly temperatures owing to the cyclone blasting most of the states we were covering (stretching from Canada to the United States). However, I consider it an opportunity to witness some gorgeous views that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise!

I got up early (no surprise for guessing), got ready, and made my way to our car parked right behind the Hillwinds Lodge we were put up in. The temperature on the dashboard showed -27 degree Celsius, which only meant for me that I had to keep the car running for about 15 minutes. It was still dark when I drove to the base of the aerial tramway. They open up at 8.30AM, so I was early even by their standards. Also, I couldn’t see anybody skiing either, which is what I love – just the place to myself! When we left the place next day morning, we could see many people skiing the same slopes just around 8.30.

Since the parking lot was empty (maintenance was cleaning up snow, though), I took my time to admire the beauty of snow-capped mountains. Being surrounded by mountains with they showing me the best they have to offer is quite overwhelming for me. I take it with both hands!I couldn’t spend a lot of time there – the temperatures are hard to imagine even for me now. I had read about a couple of small lakes around, one of them being Echo Lake just a couple of kilometers away (another one being Profile Lake), and I quickly made my way to it. If you’ve read me for long, you would know I don’t miss lakes, for they provide stunning reflections of subjects around – here they were the mountains. By that time, the activity of people arriving for their work had started. I asked for the Echo Lake and was told it just a walkable distance but that it is all frozen, so no point of going there. I have heard such arguments earlier also, they don’t matter for me now – I like to take my own call!Well, I was standing by the Echo Lake (the entire frozen section in above shot) in no time. And guess what, I have no regrets! It might not look to be a setting that would keep in you awe, but you can’t ask for the best every time. I am still thankful to have been there and done that because I was the only one around fighting the tough conditions. On my walk back from the Echo Lake, I did see a few skiers just starting off their day.I love going the extra mile to find views that make for killer shots. On my drive back to the hotel, I saw a long patch of icicles along the road, and I was quick enough to take turn and park in a safe spot. As you can make out, some seemed to have brought down quite a lot of dirt!Being early morning, the traffic was calm, and I went to a bridge close by that provided for an unobstructed view of the skiing runways. I now consider the below frame to be one of the best that I would ever see!Later that day, we took the tramway up the Cannon mountain and then watched the sunset at Omni resort, where we had a gem of a time in the fall of 2016 (you should not miss both those posts).