[AZ-Observing] Re: 5 mile meadow, things to know
- From: "William R Wood" <wmrwood@xxxxxxx>
- To: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2003 17:50:44 -0700
Had a good time at 5 Mile Meadow on Friday. Arrived Friday afternoon and
spent one night. Weather was clear and calm. This was the darkest site I
have seen so far, no sky-glow that I could see. I really enjoyed laying in
the back of my pickup just taking in the sky. Seeing was not good for
double stars or planets but ok for DSOs, transparency was excellent. The
meadow is huge and the club members were set up in a long line along the
north side near the access road. There is good visibility in all directions
except north (south is outstanding) but you can still see Polaris if you
pick a spot where the trees are not too tall. As Ken noted there are plenty
of campers and motorcycle/ATV riders in the area. When I was driving out of
the woods I saw at least 10 other campsites with several cars, bikes and
ATVs. The lights from passing cars and ATVs petered out around 10:30pm or
so but one campsite still had a bright light shining even after that,
however, they did turn it off when asked.
It was quite warm when I arrived but, not long after dark, I was in my
snowmobile suit. There were various flying bugs but none chomped me. The
temp was about 25 deg F at dawn. I intended to take a nap from about
midnight to 3am then watch the morning stuff like Orion and Saturn. My
equipment was starting to get dew on it when I got in the sleeping bag.
Woke up a little before 3am and my bag was covered in a quarter inch of
frost and so was most of my other stuff. The scope and truck were covered
too. Looked at my observing chair and I had to chip ice off the seat.
Observing was out so I waited until dawn to pack up. Don't know if the
dew/frost is always that bad this time of year but I would definitely
recommend a tent/camper/SUV as opposed to sleeping in an open pickup like I
did.
The meadow and surrounding area are very nice and the drive up and back was
most enjoyable with all the beautiful scenery. I would like to try it when
it is a little warmer up there at night, however :o)
Regards,
Bill Wood
Fountain Hills, AZ
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