Midpen Docent Naturalists Host Bilingual Mid-Autumn Moon Festival Hike
Published November 5, 2026
As the sun began to sink on the evening of September 26, about 25 people gathered for a special hike in the mountains of San Mateo County. They came together to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival on a free bilingual guided walk for the public hosted by docent-naturalists with the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (Midpen).
Midpen is a public land management agency spanning parts of San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz Counties with the mission of preserving, restoring and providing access to a regional greenbelt of open space. Midpen manages 25 publicly accessible nature preserves that are free and open to the public daily.
Docent-Naturalists Catherine Xun, Mari Aldridge, Jianfei Hu and Naureen Moon designed the outing at Midpen’s Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve to honor a holiday close to their hearts. Deeply rooted in family, the Mid-Autumn Festival traditionally centers on gathering to admire the full moon, which symbolizes unity and togetherness. As families become geographically spread across the globe, the festival has taken on an added layer of meaning: gazing up at the moon while knowing loved ones far away are looking up at that very same sky creates a shared sense of closeness.
Catherine Xun explained that the idea for the hike came from meeting a Chinese family on a previous trail who had recently moved to California. While they loved being outdoors, they felt self-conscious about speaking English.
Xun began reflecting on how to design programs where fluent English isn't a prerequisite for belonging outdoors.
“Nature does not ask what language you speak or where you were born,” Xun said. “Open space can welcome anyone, as long as we, in turn, learn to love and care for it.”
The group brought together a diverse mix of families and experienced hikers. As they walked, participants began opening up, turning the hike into an informal cultural exchange of shared traditions, memories and personal stories.
Together, the group passed ancient oaks and open grasslands glowing gold in the late afternoon sunlight. They made their way to the top of Borel Hill in Midpen’s Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve just in time for golden hour as the haze and clouds painted the western sky brilliant shades of orange and red.
The moon began to rise just before 7 p.m.
“It rose very large and golden-orange, almost like a mooncake. I finally understood why a salted egg yolk belongs in the center of a mooncake,” said Xun. “Clouds moved in and out, sometimes revealing a perfectly round moon and sometimes covering it with a soft, dreamlike veil. That made the evening even more beautiful.”
At the summit, the group shared mooncakes and lit lanterns. “The lanterns and mooncakes were an absolute hit,” one participant said. For another, it was the first time holding a lantern in 30 years.
“In a world where so much of our attention is pulled toward screens and technology, an evening like this offered something very simple: being present in nature and present with other people,” Xun added.
One participant described the evening as a chance for, “presence with nature and other people.”
“Maybe one of the quiet powers of open space is that it gives us a place where differences in language or background seem to matter less, and where people can simply share the same sky, the same landscape and the same moment,” said Xun.
Learn more about the Midpen's free docent naturalist guided hikes and activities in nature at openspace.org/guided activities.