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Published: September 4th 2011
We watched the sunset
just before full moonA Day Trip from San Francisco
You look up at it at night. Maybe it’s just a passing glance. After all, it is always there, orbiting the earth. Depending on the 29 day cycle, you either see some of it, most of it, or none of it. And then of course, there is the full moon.
Statistically it is the fifth largest natural satellite in the Solar System, having about a quarter the diameter of Earth and about 1/81 its mass. It has a synchronous rotation, which means you always have the same view of it. There is of course the dark side of the moon (insert Pink Floyd reference here). But that’s not the side you see….ever.
But still you want to look at it, and let’s face it, the full moon is way cool. It has spawned many a tale in folklore and is responsible for aberrant behavior if you believe all the hoopla about werewolves, vampires and the like. Serious stuff in books and movies; Dracula, Jack Nicholson and of course Bela Lugosi and Vincent Price.
Yet we all like to take a look at it. We’ve even sent teams of astronauts to
have a close look at it, collect some rocks and fly back. Must be the stuff of dreams that keeps the curiosity alive about this nearby lunar object.
Of course if you’re on this website, you are a traveler of one sort or another. And so we present….. a night of the full moon.
The Sunday paper a few weeks back touted a Full Moon Walk at the John Muir Nature Center in Martinez, CA. Online registration indicated that this was free, so off we went. Martinez is a cute little burg less than an hour away from our digs. We had heard that Martinez consisted of two streets and it was a cute town so we decided to go to early and have dinner before our hike up the hill. As it turned out that was pretty much the case. This town has more antique shops for its size than you can believe. But, that’s not why we were there. First some nourishment. We located the La Tapatia Mexican restaurant, which offered relaxing outdoor dining and fine Mexican cuisine. Fortunately, we went early and had plenty of time to let our food digest before we hit the
trail.
After dinner, we drove to the rendezvous point, where we were met by friendly ranger Ted, who led a group of some 60 seekers up a hill, above the tree line on property once owned by local businessman, outdoor enthusiast and philanthropist John Muir, to witness a magnificent sunset and the rise of a full moon over the eastern hills of Northern California atop Mt. Wanda. But first a little background…..
John Muir was the co-founder of the Sierra Club, inventor, botanist, glaciologist, writer, and fruit rancher. He made his home on 2600 acres in Martinez, California and he named the highest point on this property after his oldest daughter, Wanda. John Muir frequently hiked this land with his two daughters looking at wild flowers, birds and trees. The John Muir home is a historical landmark and became part of the National parks system in 1964. In 1992, 326 acres were donated and they became part of the John Muir nature center and is part of the National Parks system, the location of our hike this evening.
Mt. Wanda reaches an elevation of 600 feet so the hike is not too strenuous but increases about 400
feet in a half mile so we stopped a time or two on the way up to enjoy the scenery. This is another way of saying we are out of shape and had to stop. Fortunately, the views were excellent while we sucked air and wondered “how much further?” The top of Mt. Wanda provides a 360-degree view of hills and the valley. It was a wonderful place to watch the sunset over the hills of California and the full moon rise over Mt. Diablo. Every moment witnesses the change in the moon’s position in the east as it rose and changed color as it moved from the horizon into the night sky. Sadly, one must ignore the electrical power plant to the north. It does ruin the view a bit but once the moon rises, it is easy to ignore. The nature guide gave us a few interesting facts on the moon and a parks service volunteer allowed us to use his telescope for a better view of the moon. Awfully nice of them to trek that thing all the way up the hill for the event.
Great nations raced to see who could get a man
on the moon first. John Kennedy threw down the gauntlet, and in less than ten years, Neal Armstrong popped down on the moon’s surface. Even now, the mysterious moon has created an insatiable need to look at its beauty, to walk on its ground and wonder what will be next in terms of manned spaceflight. For those who grew up during the ‘60s, it was a magically time as brave astronauts and of course cosmonauts flung themselves out of the earth’s orbit. For most of us dining by moonlight or a hike like the one at the John Muir Nature Center is enough, at least for this night. You just sit there and stare at it. Full of wonderment about what early man was thinking about this great thing that rose in the night sky.
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Marie
non-member comment
Moonstruck
Just loved the moon shots!!