Sinuous Light by Timothy Poulton

Sinuous Light by Timothy Poulton

I started moonlight hiking when I was a teenager prowling the streets of Brisbane. I later found that if I timed my photography trips to coincide with a full moon, I could hike every night and captured the most unique scenes. It’s a great experience to hike away the hours of the night under a full moon. My first time doing this on a longer photography trip was on a five-day photography tour in Cradle Mountain Tasmania. Every night I slept in the rangers hut, getting up between two and four in the morning and capturing the peaks by Twisted Lakes the rest of the night. Hiking at night meant no other people on the trail. Crowded trails were not actually a problem where I was, but I would like to go moonlight hiking to avoid the crowds so it is nice to have the trails and whole mountain valleys to yourself. You can hike a lot of kms at night, without any problems of over-heating. When the sky is clear and the moon is full, or within three days of its fullest, the moonlight is more than bright enough for hiking in fairly open terrain. In thicker woods you may need a headlamp for assistance. If you do try this, plan your trip with the full moon coming right in the middle of the time span (if you can). This is how you get the maximum use of the moonlight before, during and after the full moon. Also note the time that the moon rises. About an hour after moonrise you’ll have enough light to hike, unless it is overly cloudy (something else to check on).

Timothy Poulton: Photos