New Year's Evening Snowshoe Hike

Jen and I spent New Year's at my friend Jason's father's place up at Lake Sunapee in New Hampshire. We arrived mid-day, and immediately set out for a late afternoon snowshoe hike up to Lake Solitude on the west side of Mt. Sunapee. We climbed the 2-mile long Andrew Brook Trail from Mountain Rd, and had the place all to ourselves except for one couple we met on their way down. There were a few inches of fresh snow down below, and up to a foot higher up the trail. We got to the frozen lake just as the setting sun cast that unmistakable coral light on the darkening white world. We ventured out onto the snow-covered ice a little ways, just because we could. It was quite cold, however (about 10°F), and daylight was fading rapidly, so we turned around and descended back to the car (in about half the time it took us to get up). I'm not really a wild drunken party person, and this is pretty much exactly how I wanted to spend my New Year's Evening.

Jason at frozen Lake Solitude in NH