Nantucket Night Hikes
MOONLIT WALKS FOR LATE SUMMER NIGHTS
This week, The Nantucket Independent continues a series entitled Night Hikes.

This series will help you to discover

the island's natural world as the light

of day fades into nighttime.

At dusk, while some Nantucket critters

bed down for the evening, the night shift of birds, reptiles, amphibians, animals,

fish and insects emerge, looking for food, love and vocal chord exercise.

Stars come out, planets glow and

sparkle and as the air cools,

a whole new world opens up.

Less destination-oriented and much

more of a what's-out-there guide, we will also share with you what there is to

see, hear and feel out in Nantucket's

harbors, saltmarshes and ponds. Blissfully, we are now coasting into that coveted period of the year that we islanders pine for all summer long: September and October.

The crowds thin out, morphing from raucous cooler-toting beach hooligans and large extended families with cars for each person and legions of day-trippers clogging downtown streets to older visitors with children in college and young parents with toddlers.

The pace of island living slackens a bit and we all breathe a collective, "Aaahhh!" We do that, typically, under delightful days-long intervals of high pressure with azure skies, brilliant sunshine and cooler, starry nights lit up like last week and into this one, with a gloriously bright full moon, ideal for walking at night.

Though wisps of fog drizzled over the island last Wednesday, shrouding the moon in its Waning Gibbous phase, conditions for night moves were great the previous two nights, and should at least be so tonight and tomorrow night. My hike, with a friend from Down Under who would walk in her Crocs if I let her get away with it, could have been anywhere out in the wilds of Nantucket. As we went out on a treasured loop with many tangents and backtracks, I won't share the route.

Suffice it to say that it was a beautiful night for a walk, the kind of night that you shouldn't spend indoors. Yeah, I know, I'm getting the impression from some of our readers that night walking isn't their kind of walking. All that means is more peace and quiet for the rest of us nocturnal fools.

Unfortunately, the next full moon is near the end of this month on Sept. 26, but to be ready for that with a route already picked out can't hurt.

If I were to impart some of the more extraordinary island haunts where you're likely to find me bushwhacking and swatting flies at night, the following locales would probably be where I would go exploring.

• The Bluff Walk in 'Sconset, starting at the top of North Gulley Road, is the grand-daddy of all places to watch that silvery moon rise out of the ocean and makes for a great evening stroll. Walk as far as the bluff will let you and don't risk broken bones in your new pair of purple Crocs by walking too close to the edge, a good reason why bright moonlight should be shining.

• The beach opposite Tom Nevers Pond, reached by walking to the west end of Low Beach Road, offers near total solitude and is a great walk from 'Sconset village.

• Amble along West Miacomet Road past the Miacomet Golf Course, following this road down to the beach and west into the Moorlands Management District for that big-sky effect. And if you want, you can walk all the way to Cisco Beach along dirt and sand roads behind the dunes.

• Sesachacha Pond, in terms of safety and scenic bang-for-your buck, is marvelous because once out on the pond in whatever floating vessel you can get your hands on, you're not in the paths of boats or being pulled at by tides and currents. You'll have moon beams and lighthouse beacons guiding your way over to the ocean side where you can beach your boat and walk over the barrier beach to watch the moonlight on the water and inhale the briny banquet of Atlantic scents wafting in off the water.

• Those adept enough at managing a night paddle in the mild currents and tides of Polpis Harbor, will find me there more than any other wet place on the island this time of year because of the abundance of bird life that is gearing up for a long flight to off-season roosts. Go at dusk or right before sundown and you might fathom my madness for this beautiful spot.

Along with ending this rather brief series on staggering around the island at night with these suggestions for where to go at night when the moon is full or even when it is not, I am bound by friendship and private property rights to dole out some walking edicts passed on to me by the Nantucket Conservation Foundation's executive director, Jim Lentowski. I am, according to Jim, remiss in encouraging night walks on the lands under his care because the Foundation doesn't permit use of its property after sundown. Take heed!

The same applies to lands owned by the Massachusetts Audubon Society, but only to two of the Nantucket Islands Land Bank properties. Their 40th Pole beach property off Eel Point Road is open until 10 p.m., enforced by Nantucket Police Department ATV patrols, and the Holly Farm property off Polpis Harbor Road is off limits after sunset. Everywhere else in the Land Bank's holdings is open 24/7.

Enjoy the outdoor nightlife on

Nantucket! I

NIGHTWANDERINGS 101

Before venturing out into the night, it's a good idea to heed basic safety and personal comfort advice.

Bring a good flashlight and a compass and/or GPS (global positioning system) unit that are easy to carry if you get butterflies when the sun goes down. Maps of the island properties owned by the Nantucket Islands Land Bank and Nantucket Conservation Foundation will aid your wanderings, as will a copy of my book, "Walking Nantucket."

Choose a bug repellent that works for you, and lather up before you head out. Pay particular attention to your legs, ankles and booted feet. While it is the biting, winged bugs you want to fend off because of their immediate itchy sting, by far the most critical defense should be against deer ticks that carry Lyme disease, Babesiosis and Ehrlichiosis.

If you can, stuff your pants into your socks - although that may not be practical in warmer weather - and apply repellent. If you wear shorts, the more repellent the better, on your legs and ankles. And when you get home, check your body for ticks.

When paddling at dusk and into the early evening, have a loud whistle and strobe light attached to your life preserver. Turn the strobe on after the light fades or during foggy conditions. Be sure to tell someone where you are going and when you plan to return.

Take plenty of water and snacks. Always bring all trash back with you, and any that you care to pick up along the way.

- Peter B. Brace