MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
If you live in a town or a city, you probably have plenty of opportunities to socialize, to entertain. In rural eastern Nevada, where the land is full of cattle ranches and large stretches of desert, maybe not so much. But in the tiny town of Baker, there is a full moon hike that takes place every month. Fil Corbitt sent this audio postcard.
FIL CORBITT, BYLINE: It's the middle of winter, and the moon breaks through the clouds over Baker, Nevada.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL RINGING)
CORBITT: Inside the Bristlecone General Store, about 10 people gather in jackets and hiking boots.
LIZ WOOLSEY: If you go outside and you look left, you look right, you've done a tour of Baker, Nevada (laughter).
CORBITT: Liz Woolsey owns the general store with her husband, James Woolsey, and for the last two years, they've been hosting full moon hikes every month, rain or shine. Sometimes people are afraid to be out by themselves at night, she says, but it's magical. The moonlight has a way of narrowing your focus to your immediate surroundings.
WOOLSEY: To actually get together and hike on a trail, hike on a road, hike under moonlight, it really brings us together in a deeper way.
CORBITT: Baker is right on the edge of Great Basin National Park, one of the least visited in the country. The official town population is 40, but there is some local disagreement about that number.
WOOLSEY: We have done an actual count of house-to-house, and to our best of our knowledge - we have counted everybody from babies to retirees - and there's about 120 people. Don't believe the census online.
CORBITT: Though these hikes sometimes have over 20 people, tonight it's around 10, and we all carpool up to the foothills of the snowcapped mountains.
(SOUNDBITE OF VEHICLE DOORS CLOSING)
CORBITT: We start up a dirt road closed to cars this time of year and lightly dusted with snow.
(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS)
CORBITT: In the group, there's a local cave specialist, an electrician working on a project at the park and a few folks from a nearby cattle ranch. The youngest is Emma Baker (ph), and tonight it's her 16th birthday.
UNIDENTIFIED HIKERS: (Singing) Happy birthday, dear Emma. Happy birthday to you.
EMMA BAKER: It's not too cold, and we can see the moon really well. We can see a couple stars. We can see Orion and Cassiopeia, even with the moonlight.
CORBITT: Emma Baker's entire school, grades seven to 12, has under 20 people in it. And she says, at times, it can be isolating. But these hikes are a way to socialize with folks in town and to meet visitors passing through. As the group ascends, a big halo circles the moon. The soft winter moonlight illuminates everyone's faces as they all look up at it together.
WOOLSEY: It can be people who, you know, maybe don't think like you, don't pray like you, don't vote like you. Whatever it is, we've got lots of diversity, and yet, we can find common ground.
CORBITT: The moon is bright enough that we can see our shadows. And here in Baker, Nevada, every full moon, it's a big shadow - one of a whole group. For NPR News, I'm Fil Corbitt in Baker.
(SOUNDBITE OF BRANDY SONG, "FULL MOON") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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