Moonlight magic

Marilyn and I had been looking forward to a full-moon snowshoe hike all winter. No, let me clarify that: I had been looking forward to it, while Marilyn was willing to try. Unfortunately, the weather simply hadn’t cooperated.

On the full moon in January, we had an unseasonably warm, rainy spell, hardly conducive to snowshoeing or moon viewing.

In February, we were staying at The Balsams Wilderness which actually offers a full-moon snowshoe hike as part of its recreation program. The full moon came on a Friday night, along with the first big snowstorm of the season. We had to content ourselves with a daylight snowshoe hike in deeply sub-zero temperatures.

That left March 3 as our last hope. As an added bonus, the moon was going to rise that evening in full eclipse and gradually reveal itself as the evening went on.

A few days ahead of the event, a genuine nor’easter blew through and covered all of central and northern New England with a deep, fresh blanket of new snow. Perfect!

As the big day approached, we watched the weather with some trepidation. The forecast -- warm, 40% chance of rain -- did not bode well.

We made plans to get together with some friends, Linda and Dan. That morning we all decided that even if it rained, we were going out anyway. We dug out our rain gear and headlamps just in case.

Late that afternoon, the weather just couldn’t seem to make up its mind. Sometimes it was raining, sometimes snowing, sometimes cloudy. None of the conditions were good for moon viewing.

By the time we strapped on our snowshoes in the early evening, however, we could see through thinning clouds, the occasional star overhead. Once in awhile, we could even glimpse the partially shadowed moon.

We started out with Dan in the lead, using his headlamp to pick us a trail through the woods. The rest of us kept our headlamps off to let our eyes adjust to the ambient light some from the moon and stars as well as some “spill” from the nearby cities.

I kept hoping to hear Great Horned or Barred owls hooting, coyotes howling or foxes barking in the darkness. But all we heard were rural dogs talking to each other.

A short hike in the untracked woods brought us to a network of trails through towering pines. With each step, the sky seemed to get a little brighter as the clouds thinned and the moon slipped from the grip of the earth’s shadow. Dan shut off his headlamp and we all traveled by moonlight.

Just as we hit a series of open fields at the mid-point of our hike, the clouds almost disappeared. The moon shone full and bright, and the sky filled with a spindrift of sparkling snow as the temperature dropped. It was a wonderful, magical moment.

In all, we walked a couple of miles on our snowshoes. Just enough to have some fun and to see some of the world’s beauty that we would have missed if we’d stayed indoors. We also managed to burn off a few calories and prime ourselves for a good night’s sleep.

There’s another full moon on April 2, and there still should be plenty of snow over central and northern New England. Marilyn says she’d love to do another moonlight snowshoe hike.