mountains and woods Pool at Dusk, Birkhead Mountain Wilderness (Ripples only are in focus.)

--Lannie

This shot was made back on March 17.  I had not done this loop trail before (except for one small out-and-back section years ago), and I had it in my mind that the entire loop was 2.5 miles or so, but it turned out to be 7.2 miles.  By the time I got back to the car, I was finding my way down the trail by moonlight, forty minutes past sunset at the end, having had light for most of the way.  But here I was at the time of this photo, blithely shooting away as the sun was about to go down, not having any idea how many miles I might be from the car--with no compass, no water, no food, just camera and tripod, in a short-sleeved shirt with a nylon shell tied around my waist.  (It was clear and the moon was out, and the stars soon would be--I'm not totally crazy, since I can navigate by the stars, and often have.)  Birkhead Mountain Wilderness is neither "mountains" nor "wilderness" as I know the terms, but it is a federally designated wilderness, which gives it some much needed protection given its proximity to Charlotte to the west.

It was a good day to be out on the trail, mild "wilderness" though it may have been.  Now that the copperheads and timber rattlers are out in force, I would not hike this trail after dark again this spring.  Maybe next winter, but I would again need the moon, which was almost full.  My first hike at Birkhead on February 7, 2006 (my father's birthday) had likewise been by the light of the moon, but that was a much shorter hike on a section where the color of the soil was very light.  Crossing streams and trying to find trail blazes after dark is not my idea of a good time, but fortunately I was already back on a section of the trail that I knew before the light closed completely down.  So, these two "moonlight hikes" in the Uwharries might be my "book-end" hikes in the Uwharries, a pleasant enough area of low hills nowhere near the big mountains of western North Carolina--an area where I have hiked a lot and am much more at home.  Still, this was home for a while on this St. Patrick's day in 2011.

--Lannie

I like this even more today!