Touched by the morning on Iron Mountain, Poway.

As beautiful and miraculous as we find a sunrise, it in itself is not the whole story, not even part. In fact, light is only an aspect of the ‘show’. It’s the prominence of the background, the cloud formations and their altitude, the presence of mist and fog, a marine layer and the way the clouds fill the valleys, allowing mountain peaks to protrude. It’s the angles, shadows, reflections and other factors that combine with the afore going to delight the senses and provide a feast for the soul. We think early Friday morning allowed us to view some of the best scenes we have enjoyed. In fact, because of the cloud formations we often see in Poway, we deduce that sun -rises and –settings, are quite unique over the region.




Facing northwest from Iron Mountain peak.




Facing a little south of east.









Most trailheads are without light as hiking is not a night pastime, generally. At Iron Mountain, this is not the case regarding light. However, once away from the carpark for a sunrise hike, one is alone in the dark but for a flashlight. At times, it’s a little eerie as who knows what is lurking about, man or beast or a protruding rock to trip one. Often, the spider webs, fresh from an evening of spinning, provide a trap although only annoying, not dangerous. Depending upon the lateness of the hour, the light begins to appear, slowly at first and then creating an ambience which words cannot describe...but pictures certainly can.








As the sun rises, the coloring changes...becomes lighter.













Mountain creates a shadow on the upper clouds.









On trail about half-way up.





Protruding peaks above Poway.




"I don't know why we had to visit Spain and Andorra when all the action is in our backyard," I exclaimed to the editor. By then I realized I was not going to receive an answer worthy of my intelligent comment.

"And why is that?" She answered off-handedly, indulging me my skewed way of looking at things.

"For one thing," I began to reply, "The sun, the clouds and the interaction between them created some of the most magnificent sights I have ever seen. We could not see better anywhere else in the world."

"Did you not say something similar to that when you were in Andorra only the other day?" She retorted.

I knew and so did she that she had me on the ropes...again. The only way to recover from a situation such as this was to fight 'dirty'. Not being a gentleman, I resorted to such tactics. "Well," I began, "At 4:30am this morning, you did not join me for the hike and so I think you are eating the grapes that are sour," I said in my Herculean (Poirot) manner.

"Be that as it may," she retorted, "The fact that I chose to rest following our Hercules exploits in Andorra, if I may say, perhaps immodestly, does not change the beauty both over here and there. Your problem, my dear, is that your mind is so small that once you fill it with the latest visuals, the older sets are wiped from your brain or as they say nowadays...'are deleted'. I suppose I asked for that and deserved it. Nevertheless, nature once again provided a unique experience for me and all those who decided to sweat a little rather than sleep in.

'Anyway, how does the juxtaposition of clouds and sunrise, you may ask, relate to San Diego and Andorra.'
You certainly may ask.

Every now and then but most often for us fortunately, we see extraordinary sights in a natural world that has no limitations in the extent of its dynamic beauty. This was another such occasion. Twenty-nine days ago, coincidentally, we hiked before sunrise in Andorra at the time of a full moon so logically, we could expect another of these phenomena on this day which we enjoyed again.








Leaving the carpark at 5:25am.




Familiar mountains and scenery took on a new meaning that morning.




There was much fog or mist which created a little something extra before the sun burned it away.




Cheers,


Jenni and Jeffrey