[AZ-Observing] I'll never return to KOFA--I promise!
- From: "Steve Coe" <stevecoe@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 2 Nov 2002 14:59:45 -0700
Hello all;
Well, it was a memorable weekend. I got some good observing done with the 6"
f/6 Maksutov-Newtonian. I still enjoy the sharp and contrasty images it
provides. I got out of town late on Wednesday night, I have a week off from
teaching and start again on Monday morning. Before the clouds rolled in on
Saturday I observed many Messier and bright NGC objects with the little scope
and have lots of notes to enter into the computer.
However, the weekend was not without incident. I drove out to the KOFA site
about 100 miles out of Phoenix on I-10 and found a good location with a big
PaloVerde tree for shade during the day. After a good night observing I
crawled into the tent and slept for a while in hopes of another good night on
Thursday. Oh, the best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray.....
About 5:00 in the afternoon the ranger showed up and informed me that I had my
vehicle more than 100 feet away from the graded dirt road and that I should
have stopped at the signboard when I drove onto the KOFA range and picked up a
pamphlet that informed me of the rules. At which point she wrote me a
misdemeanor ticket to the tune of $150 and told me if I wanted to fight the
ticket that the court for this district is in Yuma.....just ask for a court
date. So, I told her.....nevermind. I moved to another site that was not on
the KOFA range.
Here is the information you will need if you honestly plan to try and go there,
ever. Once you cross the cattle guard and enter the KOFA range you are in a
wilderness area and cannot leave the graded road area by more than 100 feet.
So, you will either get your scope covered in dust, or pick it up and move it
to a more distant location leaving your vehicle by the road....yea, right.....
What this means to me is this....I now see that I have at my disposal three
sites that are west of Phoenix: Flatiron, Eagle Eye and Sentinel. Because of
my home's location I rarely go to Vekol Road and once a year I go to the
Messier Marathon at Arizona City. None of these are poor sites, I have lots of
great observations from them, I just hated to loose the opportunity of using
another location that provided dark skies. So, observe at KOFA at your own
risk. I will be mailing off the check on Monday.
Steve Coe
stevecoe@xxxxxxxxx
Author: Deep Sky Observing--The Astronomical Tourist
Saguaro Astronomy Club web site:
www.saguaroastro.org
--
See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please
send personal replies to the author, not the list.
Other related posts:
