Full Moon hike from Brown Canyon Ranch

We have had such mild weather all week while the Heartland and especially Chicago are now in a deep freeze.  Money, road fatigue and a van that needs some mechanical attention are reasons I'm staying local over the holidays.  I'm also considering looking at new vans; I'm tired of the Dodge Caravan.

Today was our last supermoon for the year, rising at 5:33pm with a sunset at 5:20pm.  I opted to do a short hike due to the early start and many working long hours before Christmas.  We met at the Ramsey Canyon Road trail head parking for the Brown Canyon loop, walking north on the dirt road leading to the ranch house, then taking an uphill trail to a rocky overlook. There were six of us :  Holly and her husband Craig, Bruce, Wayne, latercomer Cole and me with Zeke and Minnie.   I only knew Holly and Cole. It was a mild night with little wind and only high cerrus clouds.  We could hear coyotes barking near the homes to our east.  My dogs were well-behaved and stayed close by.  The sunset provided pretty hues of reds, pinks and purples.

The loop was a mere 2.34 miles, but probably longer.  My app kept stopping and that prevents me from getting an accurate reading of time and distance.  The full moon quickly was hidden by cloud cover and we thus had a darker night than last month.

On the way down the hill, Wayne torqued his knee and told us he'd return the way we came.  We were about .2 or .3 miles from the dirt road, but that short section consists of deep crevices and loose rocks up a steep grade; terrain not suitable for weak ankles. We told him we would meet up with him later. The rest of us opted to finish the short loop, then returned with our cars to look for him.  Luckily Wayne made it to the main road and we didn't need to fourwheel up any rocky slopes.  Wayne was visibly happy to see us and he took a ride back with Bruce back to his own truck.  A tragedy was avoided!  I'm glad in this case that Wayne injured his knee close to a passable road and not high somewhere off a single track in waning daylight.

The dirt road back to the parking area was busy with mountain bikers getting ready for their own moonlight ride, but I was glad to be home early.