Cervidae Peak is one of out favorite local hikes. Even in the dark.
- November 21, 2007
- Team: Tom
- Summit: Cervidae Peak: 4987', 1900' gain,
4 miles, 2 1/4 hours round trip
Recently, Tom and I have been hiking Cervidae Peak quite often. It's a great get-away (about 20 minutes from my house), and good exercise (2000' of climbing). With the full moon only three days away, we went for the night version. We left town a few minutess after 8pm and got back right at 11. There was plenty of light for walking, although the faint use/animal trail we follow was at times elusive. No matter- just head in a generally up direction and you will get there. As usual, the climb took us about an hour. I've always loved moonlight outings, and this was no exception. We could see fine for walking. But your distance vision is stunted, making the distances and grades appear quite different (read: more challenging). So to the hiker in the dark, Cervidae looks and seems like much more of a challenge, and thus more of an adventure. Highly recommended.
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When we got to the top, we were a little sweaty, and it was below freezing (there is currently a little snow on the higher northern exposures). We had anticipated this, so we put on some down so we could sit and enjoy a thermos of hot tea. As the tea disappeared, so did our body heat, so we headed down. We were a little slower on the way down- some high clouds had drifted in to dim the light and descending the frozen soil was a little unsteady. The only problem we had was that I couldn't see the camera controls to determine why the flash would not activate. Sitting at my desk, I can see it was set on Landscape, which does not fire the flash. Oh well. I'm not sure a camera can convey the beauty of moonlight and mist drifting over Lucky Peak- go see for yourself. |
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