Moonrise Kingdom

Last Wednesday, we took a wonderful full moon hike through the Red Canyon, a beautiful erosive channel carved into the sandstone in the hills above Eilat. The sandstone is indeed deep red due to the high concentrations of iron oxide (rust), but after dark the landscape was transformed to a blue-gray world of shadows and stars.

Google Maps overhead view of the canyon

We were led on the tour by IUI biologist Gil Koplowitz, who is also an avid hiker, diver, and nature photographer. We started off the hike with a dose of strong Turkish coffee and then headed down the steepening ravine, which also grew narrower and more winding. Every curve grew darker and more more mysterious.

Gil lights the way ahead with his headlamp

Our group became more boisterous as we grew more accustomed to the strange nighttime environment. Some started singing songs together in the dark. I mostly appreciated the moonlight and scenery, as well as some of the plentiful insect life in the plants of the canyon.

The full moon rising above the edge of the canyon

A bewildered grasshopper waits for us to lose interest and move on so he can go about his business.

Gil set up his camera to take a long exposure, and using only moonlight, was able to achieve some remarkably clear, bright pictures. We could only see in black and white, but by leaving the shutter open for longer, the cumulative moonlight over several seconds was enough to create a full-color picture that appeared to be taken with sunlight! Moonlight is merely reflected sunlight, after all.

Our group in one of the few photos where we all succeeded at sitting still for the required few seconds. Photo by Gil Koplowitz.

Having scrambled in the surprisingly bright moonlight for a couple hours, everyone was growing a bit tired, not from the temperatures, which were refreshingly cool in the high 70s, but simply because it was nearing midnight. At precisely the right time, our looping path around the edges of the canyon led us back to our cars, where we took one more look back into the darkness we had just traversed and then headed home to sleep.