[AZ-Observing] No. AZ Observing Sites & Forest Closures

As many of you are aware, the extreme drought conditions have forced the 
Forest Service to close significant portions of the Coconino National Forest. 
About 66% of the forest is closed (map: 
http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino/2002FireClosures/closure_maps.shtml ) to all 
public use, including recreational astronomy. The closed area includes many 
favorite dark-sky sites in the Flagstaff vicinity. However, the Doney 
Mountain Picnic Area north of Flagstaff near Wupatki is still open. This is 
an excellent dark sky site, which those of you traveling to the north country 
to escape the valley heat should consider using:

DIRECTIONS TO DONEY MTN. PICNIC AREA:

1) From the Flagstaff Mall (at US 89 and I 40) proceed on US 89 north (toward 
the Grand Canyon) 26.2 miles and turn right into Wupatki National Monument. 
After turning, a signboard on the right shows a map of the Monument.

2) Proceed 9.6 miles (well past the Lomaki ruins turn on the left and the 
Citadel pull-off on the right), and turn right, onto a very short road ending 
in the parking area. A small wooden sign on the left marks the turnoff, but 
is hard to see in the dark. You're there.

NOTE: If you find yourself going down a steep curving hill (the Doney fault) 
you have gone too far and need to go back.

GPS coordinates of the parking lot are N35d 31' 55.0" W111d 24' 16.0". This 
is about an hour's drive from Flagstaff. (When properly motivated ;o), I've 
made the trip in 45-minutes from my home near downtown Flag.)

A DESCRIPTION OF THE SITE
The sky is quite dark. The zodiacal light is prominent in the west with the 
zodiacal band being visible all the way to the Milky Way. The gegenschein is 
an obvious, large oval patch. Seeing is pretty mediocre, typically. Heat 
dissipation from the parking lot and wind currents through the area cinder 
cones conspire to keep the seeing pretty soft, for the most part.

There is a large oval parking area with an adjacent picnic area, as well as 
unheated (vault) restrooms. Both the parking lot and picnic area are suitable 
for telescope setup, although much of the western sky is blocked by small 
trees from the picnic area. There is no available power.

The horizon is fairly good, low in most directions, except toward the 
north-northeast where Doney Mountain itself (a cinder cone) rises about 10 
degrees up, and to the south-southeast where two small cinder cones also 
block out a little of the sky (to about 5 degrees up). Omega Centauri clears 
the horizon just west of these cinder cones. This is a high desert area so 
there are no large trees, although there are quite a few Pinyon trees about 
10-15 feet high around the parking lot. There is one light visible several 
miles to the east, and some lights on the distant horizon in the Painted 
Desert, 20-40 miles away. There is some detectable skyglow from Flagstaff in 
the south-southwest.

Another advantage of this site is that an elevation of 5589', it is typically 
5-10 degrees warmer than locations around Flagstaff. And a key feature is 
that the Doney Mtn Picnic Area is actually in the Coconino National Forest, 
so it's open at night.

Bill Ferris
"Cosmic Voyage: The Online Resource for Amateur Astronomers"
URL: http://www.cosmic-voyage.net
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