by Christopher Hays
Gate locked and no sign of Marek, so I parked on Page Mill and hauled the gear into the south lot and set up in solitude.
Equipment: 5" Maksutov-Cassegrain; 13mm Nagler @ 146x, temperature 43°, a little high cirrus, mostly to westward.
The viewing was much better than I expected given the murky Clear Sky Clock. I had nice looks at the Orion Nebula, M31 and 32, M36, M37, M39, M41, M44, and M79, my best looks yet of Saturn (first Cassini), and despite its low position in the sky, Jupiter, where I got a wide four-moon spread and two bands clearly, lots of color, and occasional interstitial detail between the atmospheric waves.
My only visitor was what I believe was a coyote, moving pretty close and making a really different dog-like bark.
By 10:30 when I packed up the clouds had covered everything but a couple of holes for Orion and Jupiter.
A lovely night despite low expectations and missed signals with the permit holder.
Moral: you never know if it's going to be any good unless you go take a look!