Seeing Summer Sunrises

One of my sons was visiting the other day and slept past noon, as young people are wont to do. He’ll grow out of it someday, I hope. Most people don’t discover sunrise until they get a little older. Sadly, some poor folks never do.

While my son  was sleeping, I got up early ate breakfast and got in a nice little bike ride just as the sun was beginning to peek into the valleys near my home. I was back before most people get out of bed and had almost a day’s work done before he stirred.

If you happen to love getting outdoors and having fun, being a “morning person” has many advantages-especially in the summer. Blue sky summer mornings are gentle and quiet, a pause in the world before the sun begins hammering. They are the perfect time to get out and play.

Here in the northeast the sun officially rises shortly after 05:00  EDT on June 21—the longest day of the year. Which means it starts getting light around 4 most mornings. That sounds pretty early, I know, but hey, it is what it is. By the end of August, the sun doesn’t rise until after 06:00, so you can sleep later and still hit the magic time of morning.

The first advantage to getting up before the sun rises is that you simply have more time to do things. You can get in a bicycle ride, if that’s what you enjoy most, on roads with no traffic at all and still have time for a full day of work—or other play if you are on vacation.

If you prefer hiking, you can get in a walk with only a few mosquitoes for company, then eat breakfast and have the whole day for more miles or something else.

If you enjoy being on the water, morning is even more magic. Big lakes that are a total zoo of motorboats later in the day are often quiet at dawn—perfect for a tour in a kayak or canoe. The wind is usually calm in the early morning and there are no boat wakes to bounce you around. Get up early enough and you can paddle as far as you want and be home before anyone else invades “your” lake.

The fishing’s usually best in the early morning, too. Not long ago, I was out on Lake George in the Adirondacks of New York fly fishing for smallmouth bass with John Tarrant of Mickey Finn Fly Fishing . I’d only booked a half day of fishing because this is a popular tourist lake and on a weekend it can get pretty busy. As it was, we spent four hours catching fish constantly, yet saw only two other boats on the lake. As we pulled in at the end of our day, a number of boats were just launching. They’d already missed the best part of the day.

Even on real summer scorcher days, it’s a rare morning that isn’t at least pleasant enough to make exercise enjoyable. The heating of the summer sun often brings the risk of afternoon thunder showers. I don’t know about you but I’d much rather have gotten in my day’s activities long before the lightning starts snapping around.

Getting up before the sun  means you never get to see the end of a televised baseball game. So what? That morning magic is worth it.