[sac-forum] Re: Directions to Dirt Boulevard observing site

Tom, et al;

I have spent some time looking, just one afternoon, in the area of Salome Rd
and Courthouse Rd.  The problem is twofold.  There are several houses in
that area to the east with dusk to dawn lights and the big cotton gin just
to the west is very well lit up at night.  I did find a spot on the south
side of the ridgeline to south of Salome Road, but I never tried it at
night.  The road would not allow the usual family sedan to make it and so I
realized it was never going to be a club site.  I do think that some more
exploration in that area would be worth the time.

Clear skies;
Steve Coe


-----Original Message-----
From: sac-forum-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:sac-forum-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Tom Polakis
Sent: Saturday, January 13, 2007 2:23 PM
To: sac-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [sac-forum] Re: Directions to Dirt Boulevard observing site

--- Steve Coe <stevecoe@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: 
> 
> Tom, is your site south of the rest stop near Tonopah?  Did you just take
a
> dirt road south from the rest stop turnoff?  I would also be interested in
> trying that area out.  Like the Antennas site at Hovatter, the good news
is
> that much of the driving is on the freeway.  That way you rapidly get away
> from the city.  Sounds interesting.



Steve,

It's south of that Tonopah rest stop with the too-bright lights, but you
can't access the from the rest stop.  Instead you take Exit 94 (Tonopah Rd.)
to the east of the rest stop, and then travel west on Indian School Rd.
(mostly paved or level dirt) for 5 miles.  The road deflects to the north
and then back to the south to get around the north end of that mountain
ridge. Just as begins to straighten out, we took another good road that
heads south.  We found a nice, level site in which the mountains blocked
Phoenix.  Two problems: the rest area lights are still a couple miles too
close, and you can't get away from the power lines.  Oh, and it's flirting
with private land.

All of this shows up very well on Google Earth, by the way.

Farther south along that road there is a T with the Salome Highway near
Courthouse Rd., and that's where I think the promising sites are.  We just
haven't scoped it out yet.  The Google Earth images show a couple promising
roads heading south from the Salome Highway.  The one remaining problem may
be the parade of headlights along I-10, even though it's now 5 miles to the
north.

We found it interesting that McDowell Road becomes the aptly named
Courthouse Road 50 miles to the east of the city courthouse.

Tom

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