49.8

The overwhelmingly silent and lonely north-eastern shores of Lake Huron lie beneath the star-studded sky of a Dark Sky Community.

I have been taking longer and longer hikes in the middle of the night into remote areas of the Northern Bruce Peninsula. On the week of the new moon in mid-July I left my cottage just before mid-night, drove for 20 minutes, made my way through a forest, and journeyed farther up the coast then I ever had before in complete darkness (Maglite in one hand, machete in the other). I now carry a machete during my twilight adventures because of a run-in I had with a bear a few weeks back at 2 a.m.

I set up my tent at 1 a.m. on the sands of Solace Bay and began shooting under an incredibly clear sky. According to my research, Fathom Five National Park (just north of my location) sits between 3 and 4 on the Bortle Scale for dark skies - I have always believed that the sites I reach on my expeditions are a 3 at the very most - judging by the clarity of the constellations and the Milky Way's central bugle. That being said, light pollution is visible here as the clouds on the left have gathered light from Southampton and Kincardine 55km and 95km south, respectively.