StarNevada.info : White Mountains, California

Location: White Mountains, California (Pinion Campground)
Altitude: 7500 ft. ASL
Time: All day & night
Weather:
- Temperature = ~85 - 60f
- Humidity = ~50 - 100%
- Winds = Calm to from every direction possible @ many mph
- Clouds = 6/0
- Transparency = 5/0
- Seeing = 5/0
- Darkness = 6/0
Moon Phase: 5 - 0%

Telescopes Used:
- Meade 16” Starfinder Dobsonian
- Meade LXD55-AR5

She's 'Meg'-alithic...! The beautiful 'Fand'...!

The White Mountains, Pinion Campground trip has been a (as far as I know) traditional gathering between The Local Group of Santa Clarita Astronomy Club & The Sirius Lookers of Sedona for at least 3 years. The Local Group has been going there much longer. For the Arizona contingent, the drive can be as long as 10 hours where it is roughly a 5 hour drive for those from California. My drive from Las Vegas was about 4 hours. The reason we go to this site is to get away from the monsoons that plague the southwestern area and usually the White Mountains have clear and very dark skies. Last year's trip was a near bust for us and I had been looking forward to a better time this year.

Why me Lord? Up until today the monsoons had been holding off. Today while I was packing up I noticed something creeping over the mountains to the west of town. I had to change my plan of action and pack my equipment in water-proof coverings. I wish I could just shrink-wrap the bed of my truck! The Clear-Sky Clock had been showing nearly perfect skies for Grand View. My scheduled arrival time was somewhere around 3pm just in time for the arrival of cloudy skies. I knew my friends would blame them on me but I'm going anyway. I almost cancelled but decided I needed to get away from town even if it was cloudy. I finally left Las Vegas at 11pm with a temperature of 104 degrees fahrenheit.

While I was driving through Indian Springs a nice (I guess) thunder shower broke out over the Spring Mountains which is part of the Toiyabe National Forest. Just north of Armagosa Valley I past the aptly named "Big Sand Dunes". The dunes are nearly 500' high!

Closing in on my destination brought me to the part of the drive I dread the most: Gilbert Pass. It's a series of narrow switchback curves with no railing to speak of and it plays havoc on my vertigo. Before descending into the valley below I stopped near the apex to take some pictures. The height didn't seem to bother Sierra at all. The valley is called Deep Springs and its formation baffles me: it's quite a large box canyon with a lake of sorts in the lowest depression. To me, the canyon looks almost as if it was formed by volcanism.

I arrived at Pinion Campground on schedule at 3pm. The drive was ok and was almost an exact duplicate of last year's trip when I followed Dennis up. Also on schedule were the clouds which SkyClock had predicted. Some patchy blue gave hint that the weather might turn for the better.

Upon my arrival I found Thom & Ellen, Dennis & Ara of the Sirius Lookers. The Local Group members present were Keith, John and two individuals that I didn't catch their names. All had reported clear skies and great viewing to the nights prior to my arrival. Dennis & Ara had traveled up the mountain past Grand View and the Visitors Center to an elevation of ~10,500' ASL. Ara told me that if I went up there with my 16" 'scope, the elevation and clarity of the atmosphere would make it look like I was seeing through a 30" telescope. Hmmm, sounds tempting. But first, we need clear skies.

While waiting for those clear skies, Dennis set up his 90mm Takahashi with Binoviewers. The view we got was the picture to the right: I think it's Mother Nature showing us a sign of what she thinks of us. I know she's not saying: "You're number 1...!"

With little to look at due to the cloud cover, I decided to make an early night of it and hit the hay. It had been a long day and I had already been up for the last 32 hours. I did set the alarm for 3am only to wake and find even more cloud cover. Sleep would be the best thing for me.

The following morning was still over-cast and I decided to take some pictures of the native botany.

Two of the gentlemen from The Local Group that I didn't catch their names set off for Bishop to check the weather forecast. Their news was not enlightening: they said the forecast called for clouds and rain showers for the rest of the weekend. They proceeded to pack up their equipment and left for home. Keith also followed suit and shortly thereafter so did John. Now, it's just us Sirius Lookers who remained and prayed for clear skies. Ara also decided to call it quits but he had been at Pinion for the last five days. Dennis also went back to Sedona so he could get some rest before he had to do one of his astronomy shows. That left only Thom & Ellen and myself at camp.

During the rest of the day, sky conditions continued to improve. The pictures below are testament to that.

As you can see, the sky was not totally cooperating and drastic measures were in need. With our "fearless leader" absent, Thom took command of the situation in a ritual not normally advised for astronomers: the igniting of fire! This practice is not recommended unless all other theories have been exhausted and the situation becomes desperate. It is also advised to keep your telescope under wraps until the spell of fire begins to work it's magic on the weather conditions. The last thing you would want to do is tease the powers of Zeus and Thor!

Eventually, the magic did work and the clouds bowed to our tricks! Sometime around 9:30pm there was enough clear sky to bring out the 'scopes. We did have a round of brief cloudiness and returned to the fire pit and stoked the fire briefly. While waiting for the action to take effect we had another surprise: SkyJim arrived!

He was rather disappointed at our behavior but didn't question our act when indeed: the clouds totally dissipated and we could enjoy our hobby for the remainder of the night.

Ellen was able to find her intended object of the night which is an object dubbed: The Fairy Cluster. It is a group of six double stars arranged in a small circle surrounding a fairly starless center and is located in Cygnus. I was able to locate about 17 new objects. Most of them were my favorite: galaxies in the approximate range of magnitude 13. I had every intention of doing some astrophotography with "Fand": my new Meade LXD55-AR5, but, due to the limited time I chose to stick with "Meg" for the night. Even though the sky was clear, it was still not the best conditions possible with a lot of moisture still hanging in the air. The highlight of the night was getting to see Saturn rise just above the crescent moon.

During day three the sky was bright and beautiful most of the day. Thom & Ellen drove into Bishop to freshen up and to get some restock of supplies. I had a great opportunity to talk with SkyJim about astronomy, telescopes and the history of the world. I also heard some great stories about his adventures at Mount Pinos in California. "Look out...it is a cow". Gosh that was funny! Oh yeah, we did get to check out the sun and some really awesome prominence through his even more awesome Tele-Vue Genesis mounted on a Losmandy G-8.

The promising weather tempted more people from The Local Group to show up. Last in the afternoon John & Clarabelle arrived and with them were Sharon and Ted. I won't say what they forgot to bring with them but I will say, it wasn't a telescope.

Unfortunately...things began to quickly slide downhill. It all began while I was hiding from the sun and I noticed a puff of dust come up from the ground. Then I noticed the wet spot in the dirt where the puff of dust had come from. Then I noticed more puffs of dust and more wet spots. Then I noticed a puff of dust and where it came from something bounce off the ground and roll away. Then I noticed the thing that bounced off the ground and rolled away was white and within seconds it too left a wet spot on the ground. Then I noticed lots more of them. Then I realized: it was hail...!

I quickly ran for the cover of my tent with Sierra right behind. Within minutes the ground was covered in hail and it didn't stop for at least 30 minutes.

SkyJim had been hiding in the back of his truck and "Meg" stayed under wraps: both safe and sound! When the unacceptable weather had passed we all enjoyed one of Thom's gourmet meals.

After the distressing hail-storm, the late afternoon hours brought with them another threat: thunder storms. They seemed to be confining themselves to our north and east but quickly built up into billowing towers resembling nuclear mushroom clouds.

To the south and west promising skies were beginning to get our hopes up for another night of observing.

But like a bad penny, the clouds came back. They were not new clouds but the clouds that had just passed overhead. Some change in the weather pattern sucked them back from whence they came. We tried our "fire ritual" but no matter how many logs we threw on the fire, the clouds were not afraid. It was as if the Norse God Loki was playing one of his malicious tricks on us. The night sky was filled with brilliant flashes of light that seemed to emanate from nowhere and thunderous voices filled the air reminding us we are but mere mortals.

One by one our little group left the comfort of the fire and headed for bed. I woke a couple of times to check on the weather situation which remained the same: sucky! No more rain fell but the clouds were enough to keep all 'scopes safe in their quarters.

Morning came with the same potpourri of weather. The general consensus was that at least we had gotten away from our daily grinds and spent some time together with those of the same mind. We did learn from the Park Ranger that this would be the last year that the Pinion Campground would be available to us. A company that does radio astronomy regarding parallax will be moving their equipment into the area and this site will become their administrative site. Other sites will be opened for the public but until they are inspected for their "sky worthiness" future plans for visiting the White Mountains will be on hold.

During the morning our little group slowly disbanded as we all departed for our respective homes. Last year I opted for the route that would take me on a longer journey but away from the dreaded Gilbert Pass. This year I decided enough was enough and buckled up for a climb over it. A couple of times were a challenge for me but luckily nobody was coming from the opposite direction and I kinda hogged the road to get away from the edge.

Originally, I planned to stay at Pinion for one extra night but once I got over Gilbert Pass and looked back at the White Mountains I decided leaving was a good thing.

Between the California border and Lida, on the Nevada side I stopped for a brief moment at what could be considered a ghost town. At one time this was a thriving community of 200 residents who mostly resided in tents. They were there to mine Gold and Silver. The sign says the town was called Palmetto and thrived for only a few short months in 1906 before the reserves dwindled. However, there is an important Talc mine nearby!

The ride home was uneventful. On the way, I searched for someplace that might be acceptable to observe during the monsoon season that would be drier then the White Mountains. There was a promising spot about 15 miles north of Beatty. Hmmm...Nevada Star Party sponsored by NAC? I can see it on the horizon!

- NGC 7013 (Gal) / Mag: 12.4 / Size: 5.2' x 1.6' / Cygnus
- NGC 7063 / Cr435 / OCL-192 (OC) / Mag: 7.0 / Size: 7' / Cygnus
- IC 1392 (Gal) / Mag: 13.0 / Size: 1.6' x 1.3' / Cygnus
- IC 5117 / PK89-5.1 (PN) / Mag: 13.3 / Size: 2" / Cygnus
- NGC 6140 (Gal) / Mag: 11.9 / Size: 8.0' x 5.8' / Draco
- NGC 23 (Gal) / Mag: 12.8 / Size: 2.1' x 1.3' / Pegasus
- NGC 14 (Gal) / Mag: 12.8 / Size: 2.8' x 2.1' / Pegasus
- NGC 7817 (Gal) / Mag: 12.6 / Size; 3.6' x 0.9' / Pegasus
- NGC 7798 (Gal) / Mag: 13.0 / Size: 1.4' x 1.3' / Pegasus
- NGC 7769 (Gal) / Mag: 12.8 / Size: 1.8' x 1.8' / Pegasus
- NGC 7771 (Gal) / Mag: 13.0 / Size: 2.7' x 1.3' / Pegasus
- NGC 7800 (Gal) / Mag: 13.2 / Size: 2.3' x 1.6' / Pegasus
- NGC 7794 (Gal) / Mag: 13.6 / Size: 1.4' x 1.3' / Pegasus
- NGC 7742 (Gal) / Mag: 12.4 / Size: 2.0' x 2.0' / Pegasus
- NGC 7743 (Gal) / Mag: 13.6 / Size: 3.0' x 2.6' / Pegasus
- IC 1765 (Gal) / Mag: 12.9 / Size: ? (tiny) / Triangulum
- NGC 769 (Gal) / Mag: 13.6 / Size: 09.' x 0.5' / Triangulum