A Strawberry Supermoon in 2022 pulled me out for an early jaunt on Ridgeline Trail and up / down Spencer Butte a few times. Sunrise (so moonset inverse) was pegged around 5:30 and the weather had clear skies not past 6:00 – so a small window to catch the moon. I chose to NOT go before 5:00 given the recent trailhead vandalism, so I left home for the Spring Blvd trailhead around 5:00. On the way, looking back east over Baldy, sunrise was spectacular
With that small window of weather to catch the Strawberry Supermoon, just 1x did it work from west side of Baldy.
For the hike itself, a time-box fast hike with small 24L pack (material gear change: 2L water bladder rather than ‘bottles’ – only for day hikes). Left the Spring Blvd trailhead around 5:30 and went directly to top of Spencer and then down to N. Willamette, and then back to the top. Those two times at the top had better pics
After the top 2x, back to Spring Blvd TH and the car for some hot tea and snack. Then, back to the top and then down to the car. All along the 21-ish miles, the plants were just exploding up / down from forest floor to tree tops. Forest song birds were in full force as well – even the snails were crawling about in June.
Summary: Over the last few years, Ridgeline trail has been hard and dry in June almost cement, but with all the recent rain, the trail was perfectly NOT hard to chase the Strawberry Supermoon. This hike was Spring Blvd to N. Willamette over the top 2x, and then Spring Blvd to top and back 1x. Humans were few, the plants were big and green, the flowers popping, and birds singing … cool, dry weather. A hiking treat just 10 minute drive and 1 good pic of that supermoon!
GaiaGPS Stats
