Can one walk to Pluto? Today, I'm going to try. Last month, I was able to take part in a magnificent class on the geology and terroir of the Oakville AVA in Napa Valley. I had fully intended to do this hike at the finish of the class, but timing and weather were not with me that day and so, I had to skip it. However, since I was in the general area and ahead of schedule today, I figured I would knock it off of my backlog. Driving up from Mt. Diablo State Park where I had camped the night previously, I made it to Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, which houses both the Robert Ferguson Observatory and the PlanetWalk by 11 am. I took a few minutes at one of the nearby picnic tables to eat the light lunch I had packed before hitting the trail.
The trail starts near the observatory with a sign symbolizing the sun. One of the interesting things about this hike, is that the planet placards are spaced at distances relative to each other and on a scale that both makes for a good hike and allows the smallest of our solar system's planets to be at a visible scale (1:2.36 Billion), though Mercury and Pluto are not much more grains of sand.
As you might imagine with any grade school level of astronomical distances, Mercury, Venus, and Earth are all very near the observatory. In fact, the placard for Earth is affixed to the building. To get to Mars requires just a few steps down the nearby Meadow Trail.
Leaving the inner solar system and heading towards the gas giants OR on this scale, opening up into a grassy meadow with some beautiful mountainous hills above, Jupiter is quickly encountered a bit further down the trail. Further still is Saturn, laying in the tree-covered canopy of a creek bed. The walk is pleasant and cool, with the calming sound of the water flowing over the small rocks and falls of the creek bed. Crossing a sturdy wooden bridge and turning onto the Brushy Peak Trail, as directed by the sign, I soon encounter Uranus.
The sign warns that Neptune and Pluto beyond are much further down the trail and that it will start climbing steeply. I came for a workout though and walk the distance between the Sun and Pluto seems like a good way to make my steps for the day (or the steps for the entire human race). They were quite serious about the uphill, as a number of switchbacks take me deeper into the woods and towards the summit of Brushy Peak. I push my pace as I want the exercise value of this hike. Finally, reaching the sign for Neptune, I observe the weather and note a possible storm cloud rolling in. Another near mile to Pluto, but I don't know when I will be back over this way again and I do have a poncho with me. I push on towards the Kuiper Belt and the demoted planet at the edge of our solar system. The climb is extremely steep in places, but I eventually reach my destination. I note that at this scale, Pluto would be about the size of a grain of sand.
Seeing the planets and the distance between them at this scale is really eye-opening. My round-trip distance was almost exactly 5-miles and afforded me a pretty good workout (especially, since this was my second hike of the day). It's great to see educators and scientists building/designing things like the PlanetWalk, especially for the younger audience. I applaud their efforts.
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