A New Experience
Published at 21:04 on 1 August 2015
The best thing that happened on the Deer Park camping trip was the new experience of being on a mountaintop as the sun set.
I’ve been on mountaintops many times, but always as the part of day hikes that involved the goal of getting back to the trail head before nightfall. This time, the summit was only 1.2 miles from where I was camped, most of the route back was on a road, I had a light and spare batteries with me, and the moon was nearly full.
So it was easily possible to stay until the sun had completely set, which is exactly what I did, watching the colors change on the mountain slopes, the fingers of darkness creep up the walls of the valleys, and the sky turn colors in the west.
It was a new and magical experience, and the light from the moon meant I didn’t even need to use my light on the way back to camp.