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The Moon

by Hal

It's 11 PM and Scooter and Hal are just downloading the canoes from the rack. The sky is sodden with clouds, the river an inky black. Somehow the current shows it's relentless strength in the nearly pitch-black. Dragging their boats down the sand, laden with camping gear for the weekend, they put in, and go upstream. It's a tough call, whether to wear a raincoat to wall out the spitting rain, or go without, to let the pits breathe of the cool night air.

The clouded sky is backlit by a full moon, a dull glow from one horizon to the next. Scooter and Hal are alone in their world, no one else ever ventures out in these conditions. They knew ahead of time that the moon would be their guide, rainclouds or ney. They made their passage upstream, beached on a sandbar, and fed driftwood into the cowboy campfire.

A late night arrival, peanuts in the shell, and a few brews from the cooler. What could be a better way to start a weekend?


Every article I ever read on the moon was so full of useless information, I was more confused after I read it than before. Here, simply stated, are the facts you need to take advantage of the moon when you are abroad in the wilderness, at night.

1. Once the moon passes the First Quarter, it is generally bright enough to see by. In a perfect world, it would rise at noon on the first quarter, and set at midnight.

2. Right up till it's full, the moon extends the evening light past dusk. In a perfect world, the Full Moon would rise at sunset, and set at sunrise.

3. After it's full, when it's waning, the moon rises after dark. The moonlight is most useful for early morning activities, like making up time on a paddle trip. In a perfect world, the moon at Last Quarter would rise at midnight, and set at noon.

4. Between last quarter, when the moon is half full, and first quarter, when the moon is again half full, there really isn't enough light to be useful. Good time for stargazing, or navigating by Polaris, the north star.

In summary, if you see the moon in the afternoon, know that it's waxing, and will become brighter and brighter. If you see it in the morning, forget it, it's getting smaller and dimmer every day.

You wanna know what the moon is gonna look like for a trip you got planned for 20 months in the future? Check out Astronomical Applications. For my trips, I generally download dawn, dusk, and moon data for the whole time I'm out, and make a table.

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