Mt. Woodson Full Moon Hike

This month's full moon is called The  Hunter Moon. 

"Its name — one of several catchy monikers including the Blood Moon and the Sanguine Moon — reputedly comes from those who used the light to their advantage, according to Science@NASA. “Hunters … tracked and killed their prey by autumn moonlight, stockpiling food for the winter ahead,” writes NASA’s Tony Phillips. “You can picture them: Silent figures padding through the forest, the moon overhead, pale as a corpse, its cold light betraying the creatures of the wood.”

Cool.  On top of that, there was a partial lunar eclipse tonight.  I personally couldn't see it with the naked eye but apparently part of earth's shadow blocked a small portion of the moon.

I had signed up for a meet-up group  hike up Mt. Woodson but after the crazy week I had at work, I decided that social interaction was not in my best interest.  So I decided to go it alone.  There is a trail somewhere behind the fire station but I just jumped on the first trail I saw that paralleled highway 67 and started walking.  It spit me out onto the fire road and since I'm unfamiliar with the east side of Mt. Woodson, I decided to just keep to the fire road all the way up.  I thought it was 6 miles round trip but it ended up only being 4.  I made it to the top and was kinda disappointed because I thought I was too early to catch the moon on the way back down.  I sat and watched the beginnings of the sunset while I ate my PB&J.  It was a warm, clear and sunny evening.  The view went all the way to the ocean.  I visited Potato Chip Rock and, miracle of all miracles, there was no one there!  That's a first.  Usually there's a line of people waiting to take pictures out on the thin outcropping of rock that looks like it could break in half at any second. 

I headed back down the mountain and was pleasantly surprised to turn a corner and see the bright and luminous moon rising in the distance.  It was glorious as usual.  I was fixated on the moon and startled out of my reverie when a fox ran in front of me!  That's a first!  Pretty neat.  I also saw a few people "bouldering."  They were climbing the huge boulders with all their rock climbing gear.  One guy was free climbing without a belay rope.  Yikes!

Made it back to the car in 2 hours flat with a total of 4 miles and some change.  It was 81 degrees when I started and 67 to end.  I saw 17 people :-)

Enjoy some pictures!