I didn't make it to Fremont Peak on Saturday but I did head up to Montebello Friday night. I saw the ranger when he came to close the gate and he didn't have any problem with me being there. He seems to trust TAC pretty good. I was the only one there but the coyotes kept me company. Just glad that I didn't have any beef jerky in the car.
Being that it was my first time with the scope out of my yard I ran into a minor problem... All this sky and I haven't got the faintest clue what to look at!! In my yard I have a nice semi dark but limited view that stretches from Mizar to Vega. I get up there and that same view is stuck in the light dome.. I turn around and I see a stretch of southern sky that looked fantastic but I didn't really know my way around it.
So I did the next best thing. Put the SkySensor in "Sky Tour" mode and let er rip.. I got a nice tour of a bunch of different objects which I have never seen before. Most of the time I didn't really know what I was looking at but it sure was a good time.
The sky up there is pretty dark.. A lot darker than I thought it would be. There is also a whole lot of sky to look at. Next time I go up I am going to be sure that someone else is up there with me to show me around the sky.
As for next weekend. I plan to go to Henry Coe.. I haven't been there before so I wouldn't mind if someone contacted me to answer a few questions.... Like is the setup area far from the campsites? All that sort of thing....
I'll hopefully make it up to Montebello this Wednesday, although I'll probably just bring the binos and have a few regulars educate me a bit..