2-3-13 Sunday Morning on The Seven Sisters

That wonderful first rise when you feel the incline's resistance and take a deep breath.

Familiar mosaics.

A 14 inch diameter beech beginning to succumb to Beech Bark Disease.

Council trees.

Close to the ridge. The sun was flirting with some morning clouds.

Frank.

The ridge. The light dusting of snow was quickly receding in the warm sunlight.

Another summit. There are seven of them stretched over 5 miles.

The warm south-facing flank of the ridge.

I often do "cross sections" where I bushwhack down the slope and come back up to get more elevation.

Beech leaves in motion.

The fourth summit.

The ridge offers spectacular views of the whole valley.

It's a great place to watch hawks as they come down the valley. I sat here a few days ago and watched a large male Red Tail for an hour as it hunted across the slope all the way over to the "meadows"; the green sward of farm land across the Connecticut River.

The ridge.

First ones out on a Sunday morning. They were doing the whole ridge.

Looking west towards Mt. Holyoke (Mt. Skinner).

Trail runner. In the early spring the Seven Sisters Trail Run is held here and is becoming a popular early spring event. More than 100 competitors take part in the 12 mile race with 3700 feet in rise.

Das Ende!