Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Local Lunar Camping

"Extreme Supermoon" was last Saturday night, and I had to sleep under the influence of this March 19th lunar perigee.
We found a spacious, civilized camp spot at Deer Creek campground off Burr Trail, near Boulder, Utah, to watch the moon rise to its "closest point in orbit to Earth." It didn't appear any bigger or closer, especially if I compare it to a "harvest full moon" in September, which is HUGE.
Friday, we hiked five hours up The Gulch, exploring Water Canyon (the spring is flowing well and new green fauna is present), only meeting one family backpacking nine miles up to the arch.
The wicked winds came Saturday and we aborted our ridge hike across from our campground and found a few human tracks going down a canyon we dubbed "wind-break canyon," that is probably a tributary to Deer Creek. Five hours later, with help from the GPS and our nuclear reactor landmark, we were back in camp.
Due to high winds, we drove and ate at Hell's Backbone Grill in Boulder, for a sandless wonderful, albeit expensive meal, ten minutes away from our campsite. Desert camping in March is not madness but pleasurable.