Full moon delights

One of the most fascinating aspects of trekking is to experience the full moon. Most of my treks are therefore planned with the full moon in mind.

It was therefore by design that we camped amidst a glacier on a full moon night. All around us towered the mighty Himalayas, the Hathi Parbat ahead of us, Kagbushandi peak next to it, the Ghodi Parbat on the other side and the majestic Neelkanth completing a near circle of mighty peaks. Somewhere in the middle of this circle was our tiny campsite. Since the mountains were towering all around us, the moon didn’t appear till it was practically overhead, but when it did its brightness was incredible. It lit up the snow caps and we could see things as clearly as day. I switched off the headlamp and went for a walk, stepping as surely among the boulders as I would during day.

The next morning I woke up as usual well before dawn and stepped out to read. I had my headlamp clamped on but as I opened the book to read I might as well have left the lamp back in the tent. The moon was now close to the top of the ridge behind me and its light was hitting the snow capped mountains ahead of me. I don’t know how but in some way the snow was amplifying the moonlight many times the original and I could read the book comfortably. Then I glanced around and it was not just the book that was lit up, so was the juniper, and the campfire, and the tents and the stream and the boulders and the heap of drift wood beside the kitchen tent. Every detail was sharp and clear.

I felt my breath catch, I bowed humbly and whispered a silent prayer acknowledging the sheer magic of the moment.