Well, here is the final report on the recent outing to the Mendocino National Forest (MNF) with John Hales. We arrived the afternoon of Wednesday July 2 after a four and a half hour drive from Cambell. It is not that far to where we leave interstate 5 but the road to the mountain is narrow, twisty, and for part of the way dirt. The location is about 4000' or so, well off the beaten path. I found this location five years ago while searching for good astronomy locations. It is something of a clearing in the forest. Sky exposure is good although the horizon the NE is slightly obscured by some trees. The nearest town of consequence is Clear Lake, about 25 miles away and Ukiah, about 35 miles away. As one might imagine, it is very dark!

After setting up two telescopes and the trailer, it was time to await the coming of darkness. John had his new CG-11, with various smaller refractors in tow. I had my trusty NGT-18 and my new 4" Vixen Fluorite Refractor. After I could see Polaris, it was time to begin the tedious process of polar alignment. After some time, I could he John muttering something. After some inquires, he stated in very clear terms that "this is the best ------- sky I have seen; look at the ---- Milky Way!" Sure enough, there is was from horizon to horizon, with numerous rifts, knots, and dark patches. We stood there like idiots for some time just looking up. We could see fourth magnitude stars about 10 degrees from the horizon, I could see magnitude 6.4 with the naked eye, John could see a little dimmer. It was warm, perhaps in the low 60s and the mosquitoes, while annoying were not as bad as some years. In other words, it was a perfect night for astronomy.

My primary purpose for going to this location was to do photography. With the 18" I did shoot the galaxy M99, M63, M94, and M101. I also shot M22 and NGC 6888 with the 18". With the new 4" I shot M8, M22, the area around Antares, M13, Cygnus, the Veil, M16, M17, M11, M25, and finally M31. Oh, I also did look at a few things while I was there. With the 18", the Veil was incredibly easy as was the faint extension opposite the companion of M51. M16 was embedded in nebulosity and the faint nebula around M17 was easy. NGC 4565 was easy as were several dark knots in the dust lane. M64, the black eye galaxy showed its eye easy enough but also more detail in the central area. I also looked at some little nebulas in Cygnus. NGC 7008 showed several stars across its face as did 6826. NGC 7026 was small but very green as was 7027.

All in all it was an almost perfect trip for me but perhaps not for John. I was able to sleep until noon because my camper was in the shade of a convenient large tree but he had brought his SBIG 4 automatic guider and fought with this thing for three nights before he resorted to manual guiding. He did not know what was causing his problems but was understandably upset. I should have my pictures in a few days and can't wait until late August when I make the trip again.