Forty years ago a great mentor and Dartmouth Ski Coach John Morton introduced our team to the concept of the "Sunday hike." This meant rising at the crack of down for a 15-20 mile run up and down the rugged trails of the White Mountains, often starting with both our brains and the valleys shrouded in a dense autumn fog.
But inevitably after climbing a few thousand feet the trail would break out into bright blue skies, treating us to miles of ridgeline running above the clouds - a magical experience forever etched into my brain. Returning to campus by noon we would meet our classmates and frat brothers in the dining hall, nursing their hangovers while trying to comprehend our smiles as we kneaded cramping muscles and sore joints devouring bowls of fruit loops and soft ice cream (the ideal carbo replacement!).
40 years later and on the opposite side of the world, my love of the Sunday hike continues. I'm in Nha Trang, Vietnam as part of the Fulbright Specialist program sharing my STEM education experience with faculty and students at the College of Early Education Pedagogy. The beautiful beachfront resort town is ringed by mountains and
several faculty invited me to join them at 4:30 AM Sunday to climb their local favorite - Fairy Mountain. A set of three 400 meter peaks it's definitely not Mt. Washington, but seeing the sunrise over the South China Sea was as beautiful as a morning can be.
As the sun rose and temps quickly rose in the 80's it was clear why my hosts had insisted on the early start.
There were steady crowds heading up as we descended - but by the time we wrapped up at 10 the equatorial sun was beating down and I would have been cooked up on the mountain for sure. It was time to sit in the shade and enjoy some
hot noodle soup - truly the only breakfast I've been served since I arrived here. Spicy broth, rice or egg noodles and proteins ranging from basic beef, pork and quail eggs to exotic seafood like snakehead fish, jellyfish and conch a morning meal in Vietnam is never dull, or cooling!
Topped off with coconut juice straight out of the shell and some fresh sugarcane juice it was destined to be as great of a day as always after a Sunday hike. And yes as I returned to my beachfront apartment there were definitely some Russian tourists paying the price for their night of vodka shots just like the boys from Beta Theta Pi. Thanks for showing us another option Morty - love that tradition :-)
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