Under the Rose Moon

This month's full moon, called the Rose Moon, is the lowest in the sky all year and by trick of the human eye appears to be the largest. To celebrate the occasion we loaded up two cars and my truck with people and hiked out to Cascade Lake last night. We started out in a dark forest but by the time we reached the first meadow the moon had risen and the land around us was bathed in a silvery blue. I led the way and it was nice to look back and see the lights of our party of 16 like a trail of fireflies strung out through the forest and meadow. As we approached the lake, we were greeted by two pairs of glittering eyes in a clump of willow. We shut off our lights, and as we watched, two enormous moose lurched to their feet. After a minute or two, we detoured around them and sat on the lake shore, watching the moonlight shimmer on the water. Bats swooped over the lake, hunting and after about 20 minutes we were frozen. Stephen from Taiwan suggested we build a fire so he, Andrew and I walked off to the nearest campsite and, finding it vacant, built a fire in the fire ring. I will upload our fireside international roll call on YouTube so I can embed it here for you. I took some pictures but they will be along a little later since I have to resize them. On the return trip, we heard loons in the marsh and wolves howling in the distance.

By eerie coincidence, our hike coincided with the anniversary of the 1973 death of a 29 year old French woman. She jumped into the Yellowstone river above Upper Falls and plunged down both Upper Falls (109 ft.) and Lower Falls (308 ft.). This happened at Canyon where I am living.