Although it remained quite chilly, today was a gorgeous spring day, sunny and calm, and I wanted to get some fresh air. So I headed out to Wells State Park, which is about a 15 minute drive from my house, and hiked for about an hour, uphill toward Carpenter’s Rocks, then looping back along the South Trail toward the parking lot.

The Park includes camping sites and is quite popular in the summer. This schematic map is behind glass outside the Visitor’s Center.

Here is a photo I took along the South Trail, with the bare trees casting spindly shadows and the lichen-covered rocks of an old stone wall marking one edge of the path.

I’m standing at the eastern edge of Walker Pond, on the opposite shore from the public beach; in the distance I could see traffic on the Mass Pike. It was blissfully quiet though.

At 6:45 this morning, about 15 of us gathered around Dr. Judith Young of the UMass Astronomy Department at the UMass Sunwheel to observe the Vernal Equinox. For well over 15 years, Dr. Young has presided over this gathering twice a day, four times a year.

The themes for this day are unity and balance, Dr. Young told us.  Why?  Because on this day, all over the earth — not just in particular locales — the day is 12 hours long and night 12 hours also; the sun rises due east and sets due west.  And today, at the equator, the noon-day sun casts no shadow.

The hour was chilly, but the setting was peaceful and lovely.  We listened to birdsong and to poetry chosen by Dr. Young, and we watched our shadows grow stronger as the sun rose over the tall standing stones to warm the earth on this, the first day of spring.

The earth always casts a shadow, but it’s difficult to see. Notice the darker band near the horizon with a pale pink layer above it.

Earth Shadow

These tall standing stones mark the position of the sun at the spring equinox.

Due East

I took this picture at an angle because it was hard to see anything with the light source in front of the camera.

Dawn

We are facing west, with the sun behind us.

Our Shadows