[pct-l] Another Super Secret Outburst

[waynekraft at verizon.net (Wayne Kraft)]

> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <Hiker97@aol.com>
> To:> Cc: <carolwbruno@yahoo.com>; <J.Hannah@marelich.com>
> Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2005 1:52 AM
> Subject: [pct-l] Another Super Secret Outburst
>
>
> .
>> ## Tell Time: This is another old trick.  Use your fingers to tell how 
>> much
>> sun light is left.  Hold your hand out in front of you and then hold your
>> fingers parallel to the horizon and to the sun.  Count how many fingers 
>> there are.
>> Each finger equals 10-15 minutes.  For example, three fingers would mean
>> there is 30-45 minutes left before the sun goes down.  I have used this 
>> for years
>> and it works pretty good.  Now I do remember who told me this technique. 
>> It
>> was John Muir.
>>
>> Ye olde hiking buddy, Switchback
>
>
> Switchback:
> This works, of course, but it is important to add that one's arm must be 
> fully extended -- a full arm's length in front of your eyes and count the 
> number of your fingers that will fit between the top of the sun and the 
> top of the horizon.  This will tell you when the sun will disappear over 
> the horizon. Depending on cloud cover, you'll still have a little more 
> twilight after that.  If your elbow is bent your clock will be off.  We 
> tried an experiment years ago with about a dozen hikers of widely varying 
> shapes and sizes and the 15 minutes per finger formual was correct within 
> a few percentage points.  All of us came up with the same sunset forecast. 
> So there you have it:  Thickness of hands/fingers, length of arms, 
> distance to horizon on planet Earth all in perfect geometrical sycnch. 
> Are we not fearfully and wonderfully made?
>
> Wayne Kraft