by Dave North
Went to Coulter with perhaps 20 or more other scopers (and attendant hangerouters), and thought some of you might be interested in a Fremont Peak update.
There was a small group at the Southwest lot (maybe five folks) and another eight or so scopes up at the Observatory. Nobody by thw workshop.
Conditions were a tad hazy early on, but they cleared up later, though the skyglow from the cities was unhampered by fog, so the skies were unusually bright. Still, we were getting to decent mags with little difficulty, so transparency must have been tolerable.
First, construction layout has begun on the front gate to the park, which should limit access for "drive by headlighters" sometime later in the season. This will be one of those drive out but can't drive back in arrangements... so anyone using the park will have to get there before the gates close, but leaving early won't be a problem.
It looked like a couple of wandering saturdaynighters gave a dose of headlights to the southwest lot, but I'd guess no more than two. A few cars drove by on the main road, but none came into the Coulter area.
This may sound promising for Coulter, but in my opinion it's not yet ready for Prime time. It suffered two problems that were particularly nagging.
For one, there is a camper right next to the observing area who seems aware that lights are a problem for astronomers, yet insists on his right to burn a Coleman lantern. He had the sense to put it where it didn't directly illuminate most folks there, but nevertheless it lit up the trees and the entire area a bit. After he had made life difficult a sufficient length of time to assert his right to be whatever he is, the light was turned off and there was almost no further problem from campers or park visitors.
However, we were served up several doses of hard light until about 11pm, as one after another of the people with telescopes packed up early and used backup lights, parking lights and occasionally headlights to wend their way back out of Coulter.
I assume this was nothing other than a lack of proper technique and understanding (or respect for others), but oddly the biggest problem all night was from other amateurs.
A brand new twist was a computer setup that threw quite a bit of light, though the operators did try to block it off most of the time and discussed various lightblocking ideas they've tried.
On the plus side, the southwest lot looks more or less back in shape, and casual headlighting seems to be slowing down (and clearly will slow down quite a bit more with time).
On the minus side, the campers are not really in the spirit of astronomy quite yet, and basic etiquette seems to have degraded in the astro community. So there's work yet to be done before Fremont Peak will be a completely pleasant place to have astronomical events, but clearly there has been some improvement.
Some of you may be considering a weekend there now and then -- I thought it best if you knew the current state of affairs. For now, I'd give it a guarded "okay" without much enthusiasm.
But it looks like progress is being made, and it might be "just fine" in a month or two.