A View Into Narnia: First Frost Quehanna

And then we spent a cold night in the Quehanna Wild Area. I had put on all of the clothes I had with me, and eventually even that wasn't enough, and so I got into my tent, crawled into my sleeping bag, and fell asleep.

I awoke sometime during the night to discover that I was only partially on my sleeping gear. The thin gray pad was still sort of under about half of me, but Big Agnes (the green inflatable pad) was way at the other end of the tent, as though trying to make an escape. And my pillow was far away too. So I reassembled my sleeping gear and fell back to sleep.

The overnight low was about 31 degrees F under the trees where we camped. Out in the valley, it dropped into the 20s, and I awoke to hard frost. Before the light arrived, I put my hiking pants on over everything else I was wearing, grabbed my camera and a water, and headed out into the valley to watch the cold sunrise.

Now, if you are truly a lover of sunrise, you will agree with me that it is a process. It's best if you get there BEFORE the light, and watch it creep in. And if there's frost, the sun hits it, and it rises like angels into the heavens.

The top part of the field was so white that it resembled a view into Narnia; it almost looked as though it had snowed! But it did not. I assure you - it is only a very HARD frost. But it surely was magical to see!

Here's a song to go with such a white wintry looking view: Pentatonix, with Winter White Hymnal.