Midnight Hiking and Moonlight Worship on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail
It all began on a hot, dry, and dusty afternoon in the foothills of Ogden, Utah. We had been told about the "must do" hike called Waterfall Canyon. After a lackadaisical start to the morning, our hike didn't begin until around 1PM. By that time, temps had risen near 100 degrees fahrenheit and the sun was beating down upon the valley. After a good 10 minutes of hiking the trail we realized something: this was stupid and it wasn't fun. We opted to head back to base camp and decided later to try a little (mostly) full moon hiking.
As we talked with Meisha's sister about out plans, she warned us to be careful and that Ogden was the place where the goatman lives up in the mountains. Yep, you should really click the goatman link when you're done reading this post. We left around midnight and rejoiced at the much cooler climate and general quietness of our environment. Full moon hikes have been an on-and-off tradition for us for several years now. Because Meisha's eyes are so light-sensitive, day hikes require dark sunglasses and extra-careful footwork, making it not as fun as it could be. During the full moon, Meisha is able to hike without her sunglasses. She can see more clearly and I can hike without the need of a flashlight or headlamp, making it an almost level playing field for the two of us.
The feeling of walking a trail knowing we weren't likely to run into anybody else combined with the chirping crickets, nighttime city sounds, and sea of twinkling lights below was quite surreal. ...not to mention hiking on the side of a mountain at 2AM without the use of artificial light 🙂
After taking a few ridiculous photos at the turnaround point of our hike, we headed back down to the city and arrived back at the van around 3AM just tired enough to sleep soundly. So the moral of the story? Uhmmm... don't let goatmen scare you away from moonlight hikes and new experiences.
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