AstroCamping Travelogue Western Sierra Aug 2008

Mark Buxbaum

Introduction

My son and I recently completed a week of enjoyable astrocamping in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Planning I had done some pre-trip research, asking both the Sierra and Sequoia National Forest rangers about good astrocamping locations.

The websites below were useful in scouring for likely candidates:

California Forest Fire Lookouts - http://www.peakbagging.com/Peak%20Lists/CA_Lookout1.html

The sites linked from the SJAA weather page - http://www.sjaa.net/weather/

Benchmark California Road and Recreation Atlas - www.benchmarkmaps.com

Delorme Northern, Southern and Central Atlases and Gazetteers - www.delorme.com

Ultimately, the "boots on the ground" recommendations of the rangers were the most valuable.

I decided to navigate a section of the western Sierra Nevada from north to south, starting near Yosemite National Park, and ending at The Needles in the Sequoia National Forest.

Packing

I threw all our usual gear in the back of the RAV4, but in my haste forgot my orange programmable Photon-III microlight. Frak!

First Night Stopover

We began with an overnight at the Madera Valley Inn (www.maderavalleyinn.com), a journeyman establishment near the mountains, which allows us an extra day in the beautiful high country.

Pablo's Plateau

Our first night of astrocamping was a great location in the Sierra National Forest at approximately 7500'. The site, named for the diligence of its discoverer, is off Beasore Road near Bass Lake. It is also hidden deep down logging roads, leading my 17-year-old son to remark, "How the heck did he find this spot anyway?!”

Because it was logged recently, the landscape is open for astronomical viewing, and provides enough cover under which to pitch a tent for morning shade. It does not have that spectacular Lord of the Rings feel provided by old-growth sections of Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks.

That night, as I was tired, I spent most of the night viewing face-on galaxies with my customized Orion Premium Deep Space Explorer 12.5" (Swayze mirror). I have found that face-on galaxies are more elusive when dimmed by light pollution.

The air was perfectly dry, the night incredibly dark.

I saw more meteors that night than I ever have before, both due to the proximity of the Perseids and the fine location, which had no visible light domes. In fact, I saw a meteor every time I glanced up from the scope!

But perfect astronomy nights, where all factors are in accordance are elusive. So I had a couple of large mosquitoes pester me, but it was a small price to pay for such an excellent night!

Almost Stuck

As I had previously received favorable recommendations for both Green Mountain (8,602') and Cattle Mountain (7946'), we headed to them the following morning. Both mountains require travel first on improved dirt roads, then on 4WD roads.

I had not noticed the tiny blue lines crossing the road on the Benchmark Atlas, which denote creek crossings.

Upon reaching the first crossing, I said "No problem!” since I had crossed many creeks on my recently-deceased Toyota 4Runner. The creek's water was no more than a foot deep, and my RAV4 has 4WD. But my RAV4 does not have good mud and snow tires.

Several feet into the creek, we began losing traction as large cobbles dislodged, then smacked into the bottom of the SUV with loud bangs. We were digging ourselves in deeper!

After discussing the humiliation we'd certainly feel if we had to be towed from the creek, and the consequential loss of time, we reluctantly backed out of the creek bed, and kissed off Green and Cattle Mountains for this trip.

White Bark Vista (33 miles by Jeep Trail)

After our near-inundation caused a day’s schedule advance, we headed south, dropping then regaining 7000' vertical feet of altitude.

We attempted to climb Musick Mountain (6807'), only to be stopped by a locked gate. We eventually found superb astrocamping at 9237' near the White Bark Vista trailhead by Huntington Lake.

We hiked up to one of the summits of 10,648' Mt Givens, climbing the beginning of the Dusy Ershim OHV "road" to Courtright Reservoir, which is 33 miles distant.

I did not attempt to drive the famous 33 mile-long trail, which is one of the toughest in the Sierra, with my small RAV4. But my son and I did enjoy the solitude and grandeur of the view from the summit of Mt. Givens.

Back at our campsite that night, we chatted about life (and girls) while our scopes cooled. The viewing was superb when the monsoonal clouds parted, despite the Fresno lights twinkling in the distance. I was happy that the observing was great in any direction but southwest, which directly faced the city lights.

The next morning when two National Forest field biologists appeared, we discussed their fisher hair and footprint trapping program. My son and I then continued south to the Sequoia / King’s Canyon area.

"Ursa Minor"

We left the solitude of solo mountain astrocamping joining the crowds of sightseeing tourists in Sequoia National Park.

The largest trees on this planet were awesome.

Later that afternoon my son and I left the European tourists behind to climb the Trail of the Sequoias.

Just as the image of pink, yellow, and black polyester short-shorts had faded from memory, I heard my son say: "Bear".

"What"?

"Bear."

"What"?

"There's a bear right over there!” he whispered urgently.

Perhaps 200 feet ahead on the trail was a tawny brown bear, tearing into a tree stump for insects.

He was close enough to have heard us, and we were upwind of him, so he smelled us as well, so we stood quietly watching him for awhile.

We had food in our packs, and I was sipping an open energy drink (darn caffeine addiction!). I suddenly felt very Cro-Magnon when we both picked up large tree branches to wield above our heads, in case Mr. Bear decided to check us out closely.

After several minutes the bear ambled off to go about his business, as bears naturally should.

Big Meadows

We pitched our tents that night in dispersed camping by Big Meadows, in the Sequoia National Forest, just outside the national park boundaries. I'd be lying if I said that thoughts of the day's encounter with the bear didn't play upon my mind as I observed alone.

As it turns out those two nights at around 7650' altitude were among the finest astronomy nights I've experienced.

There was some moisture in the air due to the closeness of Big Meadow, so I followed my 'dew protocol' of keeping the optical finder capped when not in use, ensuring its utility throughout the night. My instruments were my 12.5" Dobsonian and my amazed eyes. The transparency was excellent, as was the seeing, which provided superb views of a Jovian shadow and moon egress at 254x.

I observed mostly face-on spirals again that first night, while my son slept peacefully in his tent, and a great horned owl hooted in the distance.

I got a good night's sleep, and then we hiked the next day.

For our second night at Big Meadows, since I had gotten plenty of sleep, I was well-supplied with the mental energy required for star hopping. Although I have no encoders on my telescope, I've found that I can observe a good number of objects with slow and steady diligence.

I observed 4 of the companions of NGC 7331 for the first time: NGC's 7335, 7337, 7340, and 7775.

The Veil Loop was superb unfiltered at 109x.

NGC 7538 was a bright comet-like nebula around 2 stars.

V Aql was a bright, lovely red-orange, and 15 Aql was a beautiful yellow pair.

M33 was a very difficult naked eye object for my astigmatic eyes, but I eventually spotted it.

Tree frogs chirped in the nearby meadow, punctuated once by the howl of a coyote pack.

Other objects I had never seen before, but saw that night, include:

NGC 7380 - cluster with nebulosity
NGC 925 - beautiful edge-on galaxy
NGC 1491 - dim oval nebula under dim star.
NGC 6605 - diffuse like a small shuttlecock, on 2 stars
IC 342 - Star-hopping to an IC galaxy (albeit a bright one at magnitude 9.2) in Camelopardalis was easy from this dark site. How pleasant to have superb skies to my north!

I perturbed a large bat when I moved or used my red flashlight. He would start chirping, as if to admonish me to go to bed! Luckily there were no ursine or feline visitors…

I saved the best object of the night, and of this trip, for last. At the zenith, the galaxy M31 looked like bright white paint crossed with two ink black dust lanes. I thought I saw hints of a third dust lane, but it was not clearly delineated, but looked like diffuse dusty threads. I saw the most detail ever in M31's smaller companion M32 which I initially mistook for M110!

Packing up that night at 4:30am, I did not want to return to the boredom of everyday life. I recall thinking, "I could do this every night...” I also had that elusive feeling, which I've only experienced a few times, embodied by the word freedom.