back from the High Sierra: more of a hiking report than an OR

by Marek Cichanski

Well, I'm back a little early from my hiking trip to the High Sierra. I did about 115 miles of the John Muir Trail. It would have been about 220 miles if I'd been able to finish it. I couldn't, however, because two critical food resupply packages never showed up at their destinations. Not having food for the last week would have made it a little tough. Fortunately, I managed to get a ride back to the Bay Area from Florence Lake.

Although the backpacking was a blast, there isn't much to report in the way of observing. I had intended to take an 8x50 finder to use as optical aid, but I left it at home for the sake of lightness, and I'm glad I did. I wound up sending a lot of extra gear home from Tuolumne Meadows, about 3 days into the trip, to lighten my load. Light is right! After making the 5000' haul out of Yosemite Valley, I became OBSESSED with lightness.

The sky above the heart of the High Sierra is really dark - that's about all I observed. After hiking all day, I'm not sure I was ever awake past astronomical twilight. I think you can see the North America nebula with the naked eye there, or at least the Milky Way is really rich in that area. That's about it. Never even saw Sagittarius, because I usually had mountains or trees in the way.

Still, despite having to come home early, it was a great hiking trip, and I'm psyched about taking my scope on a car camping trip to the High Sierra sometime. I'm guessing that the Tuolumne Meadows / Tioga Pass area would be pretty neat, after proper acclimatization to the altitude.

I'm psyched for the Perseids tonight, except for one little problem - I don't have my car! A friend dropped me off in Yosemite and drove my car back to the Bay Area, but they didn't bother to take it back to my apartment before they left for Canada. Apparently it has a cooling system leak, although I only have second-hand info on this. My car is stuck at their house in Milpitas, and it will be a couple of days before they get back into town.

So, if anyone feels like dropping by Palo Alto on their way up to MB tonight, I'd be grateful. I'd love to bring my scope, but I doubt that anyone has room for an EXTRA 10" dob and accessories. If anyone's interested, you can email me off list at marekc@earthlink.net.

Maybe I'll see y'all at MB tonight... if not, have fun with the meteors!