Warning home office TACo's, Southern CA branch office stuff ahead...
Hi Paul.
I guess that's a campground I missed. The one I remembered had trees blocking the horizons but did have telescope pads. It was like a big oval area surrounded by trees. I think it was before the lodge coming back from the observatory. IIRC that is where the outreach star parties are held. (Stars in the Park, or something like that).
I was only 30-40 miles away at the OCA site in Anza. As I was driving along I thought about you but had no phone number with me or at home (that I recall). Since I was not even sure of the city, 411 was out. So the first order of business is getting connected. I can see the dome of the 48 inch driving along route 79 towards Aguanga but have to come around Warner Springs and over to S6. OTOH I could pack the scope(s) up on a Friday and save about 30 minutes by starting out from work in Irvine and head down the I5 (traffic God's willing) and heading inland from there. News flash... Wait, it's looks like I just drive like I normally do but just stay on the I15 and get off on route 76. Dunno who much farther that would be than Anza. (Note: the town of Anza, not Anza-Borrego State park). Also I am registered (or I hope to be) for Nightfall (Sept 22nd and 23rd). You might want to consider coming for the night or signing up for a camp spot ($25) and registering proper (http://www.rtmc-inc.org/nightfall.html). Last year I observed Saturday night for about half the night with two cool guys from the SDAA.
The skies Saturday were not that transparent about 30 miles inland from you. I could not really make out the pipe nebula (B78). Normally I can when it's really dark at Anza. And normally the Milky Way is brighter. I guess that extra 1300 feet of altitude helped. At 4000 ft a very light hazy came in making it 'damp' (but not dewing). Good seeing, but only so so transparency. As you say, that's why they put the big ones there. I too saw the coastal and Temecula light domes dim as the night went on. And I too headed home at about 3am. But I got home at 5am! 8^( It would have been cool to get with you and see how the skies compared to where the home office TACo's gather.
As I mentioned, I had the 130EDT with me and spent an enjoyable time at the OCA site kibbitzing, tracking down Pluto, and doing doubles in Bootes. I was able to easily split a double at 1.7" (STF1884). I only tried one closer than that, Zeta Bootis. Nada. Not even elongated at 346 diameters (12mm and 4x Powermate). But I saw a tiny dot and diffraction 'ring arcs' coming and going at that magnification and not a fuzzy blob, so I think the 130's optics are fairly good to take that much magnification (~ 60 diameters/inch) without breaking down. However the mount began to show it's limits at that many diameters.
Ah well, onwards. Glad you had a good night! Thirty minutes from home... sigh... 8^)