Sunrise 120(!!): Ault Park (Clear & Frosty Cold Morning)

Sunrise 120! That’s a new milestone – 3x the original goal of 40 sunrises! For a recap, here’s Sunrise 40 and Sunrise 80.

After yesterday’s sunrise fakeout, I was excited to head up to the park this morning for the first clear sunrise of the week. The forecast was pretty much dead on – low 20s (-5C) with clear skies. I climbed up to the park about 20 minutes early and poked around by the edge of the forest to try and find candidates for some silhouette pictures against the dawn sky. I found a couple, including the lone tree by the pavilion. There was actually a couple joggers in the park this morning putting up with the cold. I bundled myself up with the usual gear: thick gloves, hooded sweatshirt, insulated wind breaker pants, and a knitted UC hat. I did, however, have one piece of extra armor (pun unintentional, but it certainly works!) this morning that made a huge difference. I borrowed the wife unit’s winter under armor shirt after her suggestion, and it really did make a huge difference. I was skeptical at first because of how thin it is (and that I can’t wear an undershirt with it!) but it really does a good job at trapping body heat and presumably releasing moisture. I felt cozy at the overlook this morning rather than miserable. I may have to get some winter gear for myself!

Coming into the park, now that the leaves have fallen from the trees, presents a very nice view of the sunrise coming over the valley.

This single tree by the pavilion caught my eye because the backdrop was much different from the first silhouette picture – more blue and white, rather than orange and purple.

The early dawn sky at Heekin Overlook over the Little Miami River Valley. This is the phrase of the sunrise that is difficult to capture accurately because the light oranges wash out to white.

Lots of upper atmospheric plane activity today. When the weather is cloudy you don’t think about how many planes are scooting along up there, but on a clear morning with the dawn light reflecting from the vapor trails it becomes apparent just how busy the sky is. I counted at least 5 in the sky this morning at sunrise, silently gliding across the atmosphere.

I was able to capture the “dawn halo” quite nicely this morning.

Interestingly enough, we can see that the sun has moved to the right of the water tower. I didn’t know if it would make it this far to the right on the horizon but it shows no signs of slowing down. Sometime in the past week the sun would have risen up exactly behind the water tower, too bad the overcast mornings hid it from view!

For the final 6 pictures, if you’re on the front page click to continue!

First Light Silhouettes

Heekin Overlook. Behind the overlook we can see all of the frost that permeates through the valley

Another frosty shot from the overlook.

I took this so we can compare against a similar picture from the gloomy sunrise 119

Just before leaving, an airplane took off from lunken airfield…

A final view across Armleder Park. The grass has a tint of crystalline white from the morning dew-turned-frost.