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Murray Farm Moonlight Excursion, 24 February, 2024
Fifteen Cache Hikers (or rather, snowshoers) participated in this full-moon event. Dave W (leader), Gordon, Bree, Claire, Ophelia, Raquel, Ralph, and Troy carpooled from Logan to the Murray Farm Trailhead, where Brent L, Lynne, Brent J, and Katie had already arrived. David, Michelle and Josiah met us later on the trail.
We started out from the trailhead about 6:35 p.m. This was slightly after the published moonrise time of 6:31 p.m., but the moon was still hidden behind the mountains of the Bear River Range to the east. The moon remained out of sight as we followed a familiar loop route, snowshoeing in a westerly direction through the trees along the south side of Narrow Canyon. On our return through the meadow, however, we were rewarded with a great view of the full moon, bright enough that most of us traveled without using our headlamps.
Two participants continued down the meadow, back to the trailhead, while three others joined the group as we ascended the "bench" (an embankment created by Lake Bonneville). Here, we built a fire at our previously-prepared site, admired the view and enjoyed cookies, chocolates and other snacks.
After about an hour, we put out the fire, gathered everything up, and headed back to the trailhead. Everyone agreed, this was a great moonlight excursion, one of the best we have had over the years.
Trip Summary:
- 15 participants: Dave W (leader), Gordon, Bree, Claire, Ophelia, Raquel, Ralph, Troy, Brent L, Lynne, Brent J, Katie, David, Michelle and Josiah
- Most carpooled 12 miles to the Murray Farm Trailhead
- Started from the trailhead about 6:35, finished the Narrow Canyon loop 8:15, at the fire site 8:35 - 9:40, returned to trailhead 10:10
- Clear skies, comfortable temperature and a full moon
- Most participants traveled about 2.5 miles with 500 feet of ascent
Thanks
to Dave W for the narrative, Brent L for photos, and
Ralph and Dave W for photos and GPS data.
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| Looking east from the Murray Farm trailhead as the moon began to rise over the Bear River Range | |||
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| Looking east through the Narrow Canyon meadow as we traveled under the light of the full moon | |||
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| The scene was
so well illuminated that only a few snowshoers
chose to use their lights (notice the "moonshadow") |
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| Our destination on the "bench" provided a grand view of Cache Valley | |||
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| Enjoying a fire, good company, snacks
and the view |
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| This is our
fire site, prepared by Brent L and Dave W the previous
day |
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Our GPS track shows about 2.5 miles
and nearly
500 feet of ascent.
You can look at our route using Google Earth
or download our GPS
file.
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