Today is the first day of fall. It’s also the first night of year when the night time equals or exceeds daylight. It seems rather strange after a summer of short nights and long days, to have the process reverse, but it’s a natural process, that man can not overcome.

I was setting up camp last night, and it really struck me how long the night time really was. I had to be camp by 7 PM, because it was already dark. The sun doesn’t rise until 6:30 or so now in the morning. It makes the evenings awful long with all their darkness, even if my campsite is well lit.

Long winter nights are all part of nature’s cycle. New England ecosystems depend on those winter nights, to keep ecosystem healthy. Darkness is just part of the whole cycle of winter, and cold and snow it brings. But it sure seems like 7 PM is an awful early hour to get dark.

It will be even stranger when the time changes in November, when the days start after 6:40 AM and end a little after 4 PM. Winter certainly is dark in the northeast.

Regardless, I guess the darkness doesn’t matter that much. Man has gotten good at lighting the way, so any darkness is offset by man’s artificial light. But it seems so strange returning to days when darkness exceeds light.