Wolf Moon

The largest full moon of the year 2010, rises at the end of January as seen in this panoramic view from Alaska. As noted by the photographer “This is as close as the Full Moon gets this year, so it was time to step outside and watch the moon as it slipped out from behind the Chugach Mountain Range in Alaska. Looking up into the end of the Knik Valley, looking out over the Knik Glacier, all about 40 miles north of Anchorage. It was a great place to watch the moon make its presence known. Standing at the edge of the wilderness, a few scattered homes behind me, and nothing but endless nature out in front of me, it was a wonderful feeling to know that untouched space is
still there.

This is a place where the snow falls and melts during the winter, and the last warm wind melted much of the ground snow, and some of it built up in the sheltered slight depression in the ground, and refroze, forming a rough reflective surface that reflected the moonlight back up to my eyes and my camera. Just off to the upper left of the moon Mars tries to compete for attention, but there is just too much other beauty all around to barely notice that simple red planet floating in the dark. The only sound that night was the wind slipping past the leafless branches that managed to hang on for the winter. And the click of my camera. © LeRoy Zimmerman