Sphinx Lakes in Kings Canyon

The next tree-line ahead marks the area of the highest of the large lakes in the basin

Moonrise in the Sphinx Lake Basin

After dinner on a night expecting a full moon you can kick back and wait for the evening fireworks, for it would be really special among the Sphinx Lakes. It would go something like the night I experienced it.
First, the alpen-glow. When Cirque Crest was long in darkness, the fire glow on the peaks above still blazed redly. Finally the afterglow and the stars began to show one by one. Then, specters of mist reached out glowing blue, only to fade away. Fully dark, the eastern horizon began to glimmer ghostly pale, and the peaks began to cast shadows through the atmosphere. To my right a towering peak began to glow showing off its sculptured face. A planet, Jupiter, seemed to leap above the skyline, a harold for its bright companion. The trees above me began to glow also. A three point buck strolled in front of me by the shore not 10 feet away, looked at me for a moment, drank, and faded back into the darkness.
On the jagged silhouette above, a blaze of light...then a crescent. Visibly moving, the nearly full moon within moments emerged above the black teeth of the skyline, shining down with almost eye hurting intensity. Was it possible to get a moonburn? Everything around me glowed with blue-white intensity. A flashlight was not needed, and was useless. In the moon-shadow on the lake, I saw sparks. The fish were feeding in the moonlight, and when they surfaced, there was a flash of reflected light. The whole basin was awash in moonlight. I stood, trying to look everywhere at once. Deer were in the trees, as if afraid to expose themselves to the moon. Light reflected off glacial polish. The water sparkled, and the bayou reflected the near colorless glow. In a basin carved by ice, everything was a frozen sculpture in the stark glow of intense moonlight. Craggy granite spires emerged as new wilderness personalities in the specter of moon-glow. The moonlit landscape mocked the white frozen mantle of winter that owns the high places. Everything seemed to be holding its breath, no daring to disturb the silence till at last the trees sighed with a slight breeze as if finally exhaling after a great performance. So ends an alpine day.

Want to see more? The "Next" button below will take you the continuation of the Sphinx Lakes Basin hike in the MT. Brewer issue of Sierra Trails!