Moonlight Hiking

I started moonlight hiking when I was a teenager prowling the streets and fields of Michigan. I later discovered that if I timed my back packing trips to coincide with a full moon, I could walk each night. The two primary incentives for doing this are the adventure and puzzle of night hiking, as well as the practical advantages that it has. It’s a very good experience to hike away the hours of the night under a full moon. My first time doing this on a longer back-packing trip was on a five-day hike in the Sierra Nevadas. Every night I slept next to a lake, waking up when the cold bothered me. Then I simply walked thru the rest of the night by moonlight.

This meant getting up between two and four in the morning and hiking the rest of the night. I was moving during the coldest part of the night, so I was able to get away with a lighter sleeping bag on this trip. In fact , since there was not a cloud in the sky during those five days, I just slept in the open, without a tent or tarp constantly. Most afternoons I took a relaxed sleep in the sun to catch up on sleep.

Hiking at night meant no other folks on the trail. Crowded trails were not actually an issue where I was, but I want to go moonlight hiking to bypass the crowds the next time I'm in Yosemite Countrywide Park, or in the Smoky Mountains. Sometimes it is nice to have the trails and whole mountain valleys to yourself.

You can hike a large amount of miles at night, without any Problems of over-heating. When the sky is clear and the moon is full, or inside a few days of its fullest, the moonlight is more than shine enough for hiking in reasonably open terrain. In thicker woods you may need a flash-lamp for help.

If you do try this, arrange your journey with the full moon coming right in the middle of the time span (if you can). This is how you get the maximum utilisation of the moonlight before, during and after the full moon. Also note the time the moon rises. Around an hour after moonrise you will have enough light to hike, unless it is very cloudy (something else to check on).

When moonlight trekking on isolated beaches in the Upper Cape of Michigan I could obviously see animal footmarks in the wet sand along the water's edge. They included fresh bear tracks. Though black bears in this area are not generally threatening, it keeps your senses tuned in when you know there are eyes in the woods watching you and none of them are human.

The lakes reflect the moon, owls swoop by almost without sound, and animals move in the bushes as you pass. The numerous shadows hide things, but you walk on by them, leaving these tiny conundrums unsolved. The trees and rocks take on a different, absolute appearance than during the daytime. Moonlight hiking is a gorgeous and unique undertaking.

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Beau Linder writes articles about Outside Journey. At www.astorauth.com you can pick up camping tents and mountaineering gizmos. They are the best.