5 Trails Worth Waking Up Early For

There's a version of every trail that only exists in the first hour of light: mist still sitting in the valleys, the trail to yourself, temperatures that make the climb easier. Over the years we've come back to a handful of routes again and again for exactly this reason — ridge walks where the sunrise arrives all at once, and coastal paths where the early light turns the water a color that never quite repeats later in the day. This post is the start of a running list; we'll add to it as the seasons change.