by William Blakeslee
We departed Georgetown at 6:05 and drove out Wentworth Springs Rd. I had trepidation because I saw that deer hunting season had just begun, and lots of gun toting, beer drinkin' dudes were heading the same way, quads in tow. About 22 miles later, I made a left towards French Meadows. I felt some relief when I saw the sign "Game Preserve No hunting" along the road.
The road was like a roller coaster, up and down, round and round, with 2 or 3 narrow bridges thrown in. This was limiting my progress to 30 to 45 MPH. It was starting to get dark, and checking my watch, I began to realize more time would have been good. Finally, I cleared the heavily forested area and drove along a deep ravine. The Star fire was impressively huge and destructive. There were places where not even stumps remained. I figured it would be best to just pick a spot, rather than spend time exploring back roads. Fortunately, I soon spotted a large flat gravel area to the left of the road. It was 7:30. Getting out and having a look around in the dimming light, it seemed very suitable. We got to work setting up the binoscope.
It was already cooling off rapidly, and there was a slight breeze. Warm clothing came out and before long I was comfortable. Jean never did get warm enough, so she spent the time in the truck reading by a dim light which didn't disturb me as the truck faced away from where I stood.
How was it?
Directly over head, the sky was very dark and clear. There was some twinkling of the brightest stars. I'll estimate ZVLM at @6.5. There were light domes similar to IHOP, bright ones in the WSW from the valley. The Lake Tahoe LP seemed more prominent than I recall, but was still negligible given it's location.
I could easily see Andromeda and could make out M13 with averted vision. The great rift stood out well against the milky way clearly seen way down into Sagittarius, but below that LP washed everything out. Probably better earlier in the summer.
I spent the evening looking at a lot of familliar objects, so I could compare to my previous rememberances. The Lagoon was OK, but well imersed in the LP from the valley. M17 was a lot better, but still not as good as it is from Shingletown. Maybe an earlier visit to this spot would have shown it better.
The Dumbell, however was a different story. This view was as good as any I have ever had. Also excellent were Andromeda Galaxy, and M57. Clearly, the sky directly above me was extremely good.
The spot I was at was beside the main road overlooking the canyon. It was completely unprotected from the wind and the occasional car lights, but the curve in the road kept lights from sweeping directly over me. Over the course of 3 hours that I was there, maybe 5 cars went by. Not a major irritant, but could have been eliminated completely if I had gotten there early enough to find an off road site. About 11:15 the wind picked up to a steady blow, and I lost a bag over the side of the canyon. We packed it in after that.
I really can't say if one would find the extra time spent driving to make this a good alternative to IHOP. I would have to go back and see if a better site to set up could be found. I think the sky is somewhat darker, but like IHOP, this is very much a summer only location as the elevation surely brings deep snow.
If weather permits, I plan to go back another time. Maybe next new moon.
Posted on tac-sac Sep 27, 2005 07:33:57 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.2 Mar 12, 2006 16:27:15 PT