Full Moon Hike

Last night I went on a Full Moon hike at Long Hunter State Park. I have always had a fondness for night hiking which I think goes back to my church camp experiences as a child. My church used to go to camp at Laurel Pines (summer) and Forest Home (winter) in the San Bernadino Mountains in California. As a child I dreamed of being a zoologist or park ranger, so I absolutely LOVED camp! One of the things we did at camp was to play elaborate adventure games. These games sometimes lasted hours, or at least it seemed like it to a 5th grader! I remember at winter camp playing some game where we had different colors of flashlight beams for each team. When we met other teams, we challenged them and hoped to win their cards. I'm sorry I don't remember more about it, but I can tell you it was great fun! Of course, anything where you get to stay up late playing games and running around in the woods is fun to a child! We also went on night hikes where they taught us to let our eyes adjust to the darkness. It is truly amazing how much you can see if you give it some time, so I was really looking forward to this hike.

Long Hunter State Park is located in Nashville on the shores of J. Percy Priest Lake. They really offer some great programs, much more than the other parks in town. I also went to an orienteering workshop there earlier this week. The rangers there are very knowledgable and friendly. This hike was a two mile hike on Couchville Lake. Couchville Lake is connected to Percy Priest by a sinkhole, so they rise and fall together as water is let out of the dam. We had about 10 people or so in our group including my friend Scott. I always enjoy hiking around with Scott, and he's pretty handy with a compass!

Ranger Tyler led this hike and showed us many interesting things along the way. We learned that frogs only lay their eggs in bodies of water that don't have fish, what trees make good bat habitats, which owls live in the area, how to locate a few constellations, and how lightning bugs communicate. Apparantly the larvae glow as well! (By the way, Scott, I looked up your Alabama glow worms, and they ARE rare. They are found a few places in the South, but Dismal Cave in Alabama has one of the largest populations. They are not fireflies!) It was a great hike and a pretty fun way to spend a Friday night!