“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” — Ansel Adams

Happy New Years to all. Wishing you all a healthy and safe 2023.

Sunday, 01/01/2023: Posted photo — Sunrise Selfie.

Happy New Year’s to all. For the last 15 or so years, I have been starting off the new year by hiking a local mountain to see the first sunrise of the year. This year’s hike was a wonderful hike. There had been snow and ice on the trails for most of December. Just after Christmas, we had a warm and rainy spell so there was not ice and snow. I did have to use my microspikes in areas near the trailhead and the mountain was clear of snow and ice at the summit.

Monday, 01/02/2023: Posted photo — 7 Sisters Hike.

Settings: Canon EOS 60D, ISO 3200, f/3.5, 20 s, 18 mm.

On the second day of the new year, I hiked the 7 Sisters in Mt. Holyoke Range. The 3,000-acre Mount Holyoke Range State Park features a 7-mile mountain ridge line. The park also includes streams, wetlands, woods, and thickets. Visitors can explore more than 30 miles of blazed trails.

The range may be on a ridge line, but during the first three miles of the hike, there were ten different peaks. Looking at my gps tracking, I agree with someone I was hiking with, the tracking looks like the EKG of ones heartbeat. Not and easy hike, but fun. Again, now snow and ice. The range is at lower elevations that near my house. The highest peak in the range is lower than the elevation of my house. The difference is that you start just above sea leave because the range starts near on the of major rivers in the area. The Mount Holyoke Range is unique because it runs east to west, not north to south as most of the ranges. The Metacomet Ridge runs mostly north to south.

Tuesday, 01/03/2023: Posted photo — Mount Holyoke.

This is a photo of Mount Holyoke from the high point of the range, Mount Hitchcock at 1,005 feet. This is 1,001 feet lower than the mountain that frequent, Wachusett Mountain.

Mount Holyoke, a traprock mountain, elevation 935 feet, is the westernmost peak of the Holyoke Range and part of the 100-mile Metacomet Ridge. The mountain is in the Connecticut River Valley of western Massachusetts.

Wednesday, 01/04/2023: Posted photo — Ladder.

One of the hills on the 7 Sister’s hike required the use of this ladder. As I noted a few days ago, the hills were very steep on the trail. The route I took had about 1,092 feet in elevation gain. As you can see, the elevation gain was more that the height of the tallest peak on the hike.

Thursday, 01/05/2023: Posted photo — Snow.

Starting to snow around here. Great to see the ground covered in snow again. This snow is a wet snow, so I need to keep up with the shoveling so that it does not get too heavy.

Friday, 01/06/2023: Post photo — During the Storm.

Happy Epiphany. Epiphany, also known as Three Kings’ Day, is a Christian feast day that celebrates the revelation of God in His Son as human in Jesus Christ.

About this photo: one thing about snow is it does make for some great photos.

Saturday, 01/07/2023: Post photo — Full Moon.

Settings: Canon EOS 60D, ISO 100, f/7.1, 1/250 s, 135 mm.

Today I went on a full moon hike with the members of my hiking group. We are re-starting group hikes with the group. When the group was founded eleven years ago next week my four of my friends and myself, the goal was to do group hikes. It lasted for a while, then the group grew exponentially. Now we are back to schedule group hikes to get back to our roots.

For more photo of other projects I have work, visit my website: https://photobyjosephciras.weebly.com or visit me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/PhotobyJosephCiras/.