What an experience

I've always wanted to do a night hike/walk on a full moon at KVR. This week, the full moon is on Saturday and Olive said she'd go with me.

Whoops! 
The forecast for the rest of the week calls for clouds, thunderstorms, and rain. 

Darn

Darn

Darnnit!

Instead of scrapping all of my enthusiasm, I decided to text Olive to let her know I was going on Wednesday night around sunset. She couldn't go but I was all set.

I debated going to the Black Hawk Rock, but I'd told Rich that I'd be at the south end of KVR near the incomplete dam. So I stuck to my plans.

First thing I noticed while driving in the dark was that my eyes were bothering me. I am supposed to get my new lenses/glasses in a few days so I was wearing the backups. 

Now I see the moon at night with a halo and rainbow around it. I'd started noticing that probably a year or so ago and I know that is a sign of cataracts. 

The photo below is grabbed from an internet web page that talks about vision. This is the closest I can find as to how I see the moon these days. It ISN'T quite as bad as this photo, but you get the idea.

[at first I thought it was dirty glasses until the truth smacked me up side the head]

My eye doctor confirmed it and just last week he'd stated they were continuing to increase but they still could correct my vision. No need for surgery yet.

However, the moon looked like this when I took a photo:

Gibbous Moon

I parked and got out of the car. Mist and ground fog swirled around me in the moonlight. Suddenly I was really pleased at my decision to go to the south end.

I set up the tripod and tried a few different shots and spent about an hour perhaps just moving around and trying different angles.

Shot of the view just up on top of the dam looking towards LaFarge:

I don't think I had it properly focused here, but I really just like how it feels like a painting.

I really wanted a phot of me standing in the mist. It took several tries and a lot of trotting back and forth. 

I used an interval timer on the camera. I could of used my smartphone as a remote, but I didn't want to fool around with it.

After several tries, I ended up with this:

This is Campsite AA near the Dam Trail in Kickapoo Valley Reserve. It is one of the more open campsites. The ground fog continuously changed and moved while I was there.

For those that might want to know how I did it, here are the tech specs.

Olympus E M1 Mark III
12-40mm lens at 12mm
f 2.8
10 sec exposure

ISO 500

I left the camera on those settings for my walk.

I got to Bridge 18 spending some time trying to do light painting, which really was an epic failure on my part.

Looks like I need more practice and perhaps some tutorials.

I got to the pond area and enjoyed listening to the night sounds. Out in the water there was plops and splashes which I assumed were fish [I thought perhaps it was Jaws, but I didn't hear the theme music, so I was okay]. In the dark with the bright moon shading the pond, it was hard to see anything [or is it my eyes? or was is the heavy humidity?].

The next shot is me... fiddling with my smarty - pants - phone trying to make it take a remote shot. Obviously, it worked so I have lots to learn with this since it wouldn't accept a 10 second delay.

Huh.

Technology!

The pond. This was my goal all along but I didn't spend much time here. My whole goal was to get a nice reflection of the stars in the water. However the water was full of yucky weed. But I did get a tiny reflection!

I checked my time and decided to head back. It was so easy to enjoy the night and quiet time by myself. So much so that I hadn't really thought about time. I told Rich I'd be home between 10 and 11. It was already 10!

My last shot of the evening. I really was lucky that everything fell into place when I walked back. Bridge 18 gave me a chance to redeem my earlier mistakes and the lighting was better. 

Driving home in the dense fog with other vehicles coming at me on the twisted road? Well, that was a bit tense at times. 

The experience was like no other. I was totally comfortable and in my element.

I'll do this again. Maybe I'll go to the rock next time? 
I sure could get lost under the night skies....

"She's lost under the moon again
and doesn't want to be found."

--Daniel Mercury