Mark vs. Supermoon: The Battle at Lion's Head

So the other day, Andrew, Danel and I hiked to the top of Lion's Head. It's a famous peak next to Table Mountain in Cape Town aptly named due to it's resemblance of a head of a lioness lying down (see below).

Lion's head is the peak on the left while the one on the right is Signal Hill (where apparently they still fire a cannon at noon everyday and have since the early 1800's)

Anyway, we were hiking up to see the sunset as well as the moonrise. It was a full moon and also the moon was at it's perigee (where it is closest to the Earth) so would be somewhat brighter and a tad larger.

There will be a quiz on Thursday.

The hike is pretty cool with some steep sections and great views. A lot of people do the hike during a full moon because it allows for an easier descent (the extra light from the moon) as well as an awesome view of the moon rising over Devil's Peak.

When we reached the peak it was like a small party up there. Everyone had some wine or beers and sat around first watching the sun set then switching sides to watch as the moon rose. It was really cool. We, ourselves, enjoyed some Sparkling Rose that Andrew had brought. It was pretty delicious (Graham Beck makes some quality sparkling). The walk down was like a mass exodus of people wearing headlamps. The cult of the full moon descending down the mountain (no spaceship came this time). Probably looked like some vigil to those on the ground.

Here are some photo's from the event (click anyone to enlarge).

From left to right: Cape Town, Devil's Peak, Table Mountain, 12 apostles, and Camp's bay.

One of a billion sunset photos I took.

At dusk. The clouds began forming on Devil's peak, where the story goes that some Dutch guy, who's name I can't remember, and the devil are having a smoking competition. Sounds like some story stoners tell, to me.

The supermoon, not like that fake moon that almost got me fired.

"When the light, go down, in the citayyy. and the moon shines on Camp's bay"