Australian Hiker

Moon Phase Calendar Plus Phone App

App

Moon Plus Phone App

I will usually take any opportunity to hike and at least three times a week I can be found walking up my local mountain, though bushland, by 5:00am, regardless of the time of the year or the temperatures. I just find that it really allows me to focus my thoughts and as I have been doing this for a number of years I don’t worry about every little noise, which is usually the local kangaroo population moving around just off the track. If I’m really lucky these early morning walks will coincide with very clear sky’s and a full moon that is either, or almost directly overhead as this gives me the opportunity to turn my headlamp and walk in the natural light creating an almost eery landscape. Over the last three years I usually find that I hit that sweet spot at least twice a year when everything aligns:

Full moon directly overhead at around 5:00-5:30am;
Dark clear skies; and
A frost (which creates a crystal carpet over the lanscape that just enhances the landscape even further).

When I first published this article I was approaching my thru hike of the Bibbulmun Track in Western Australia and as I am planning on walking for around 5-6 weeks I definitely want to take the opportunity to do some night hiking. The option here is to play it by ear and just see what happens but as an obsessive planner I prefer to know what days are going to fit my criteria (maybe not the frost). In previous years I had been content to sit down at my computer and work this out but given all the wonderful technology that is available to us I thought surely there must be an app that I can load onto my phone.

Sure enough there are hundreds of options available through the app stores. After spending a bit of time looking though a number of options I finally decided on the Moon Plus Phone App. This app is an Australian app designed by a New Zealander and provides up to date information from your location rather than the closet city. For grand total of $0 dollars this app will:

Provide a monthly calendar of the moon phases
Show the full and new moon days
Provides notifications of moon events
If you really like information is also shows the current distance of the moon from your current location real time
As wells many other nifty bits of information

If you feel like paying the optional fee of $4.49 other features become available and these include:

Removal of the minimal ads
Additional information and notification options

Now back to my Bibbulmun Track hike. As part of the planning process by using this app combined the the terrain and distance that I wanted to do I narrowed by nigh time hiking options to three days and given the moon set/rise times these days will be perfect provided the sky is clear. I also cross referenced these days to where I expect to be on the track and discovered that I will be away from any lit up areas which is even better.

Now one word of warning on nighttime hiking. You need to use a bit of common sense and pay attention to the trail. If you are unfamiliar with the terrain or are going down a steepish/rough incline a descent light is essential. So while I have walked up my local mountain all the way to the top using just moonlight I always turn my light on coming down as the footing can be treacherous.

This app can be downloaded from:

Itunes Apps

This app is only available for iPhones so if you have a Windows or Android phone look at some of the other many options available.