Last Thursday night, the sky in Saratoga was dark and clear enough to (dimly) show the Milky Way at 1am. Seeing it after a long absence reminded me that I was hungry again for a good view. So Saturday night I joined the expected crowds at Fremont Peak. As usual, I didn't bother to unpack my token small telescope. I was there for the big picture, and maybe trying to capture it with camera-on-tripod.

The middle parking lot was full of cars at 8pm and I didn't plan to spend the night, so I parked (alone) up at the higher southern lot. The thin crescent moon over an orange dusk and a bumpy sea of fog was a wonderful unexpected view. I hope my pictures turn out.

My dogs wanted to go sniff out everyone's telescopes, so we walked down to the observatory area where everyone was. This side of the mountain was under attack by wind and periodic fog, and apparently remained so at least until midnight. I wandered back to my car. The ranger had blocked the road to this lot, but luckily he left it unlocked. No wind, no fog, just lots of stars there. I followed a trail up to the radio/TV towers and summit. The view from the sound side of the towers was great. No wind there either. This would be a good place for Messier Marathons that need good east, west, and southern horizons, if your gear is portable enough for the upward hike. I continued up towards the summit, but chickened out from clambering over unknown rocks in the dark.

I laid down on the trail and just soaked up the view for a couple of hours, waiting for the Milky Way to get higher. At this spot on the mountain, there was again no wind, the ground was warm, and the view was perfect.

I returned to the observatory area to find all the scopes shut down from continued high winds. Odd; my parking lot had been still. Some people then gave up and drove home; others settled down for their night's sleep. I returned to my car. Again, very little wind, just nice stars overhead. I shot a couple rolls of Milky Way shots and returned home, having had a very pleasant, actually perfect, evening.

In hindsight, the southern lot was the place to be on that particular night and the popular normal places were miserable.