I was to met up with the others at 10:30 for breakfast but found myself dragging as I tried to pack everything up. It was not until nearly noon that I made it to Pinion. Thom heard me coming and greeted me with a full thermos of coffee. Our group intended to make the 2 hour drive up the mountain, past the visitor’s center and onto the Observatory on top of the mountain located above 12,000ft ASL. Being that I had a rough night/morning, I chose to stay at camp for the day and get some needed rest. Besides, the weather was looking rather ugly. (I was also terrified of the road!) Thom & Ellen, Dennis, Ara & John left to make the long and winding drive to the top. I picked out a site near Geoff’s camp to set my tent up and hopefully my ‘scope if the skies opened up. Sierra thought she found a critter in a nearby tree and proceeded to tear it to shreds; literally! What an animal.

Rain once again invaded our camp and I slept the day away wishing for clear skies when I woke. My wishes did not come true as I found the others had returned due to the inclement weather they encountered on the top. It sounded like they did have a nice visit of the Observatory and its facilities. While I was sleeping, the first member of the Local Group of Santa Clarita had arrived for the weekend. His name was John and I believe he had a nice 12” truss Dobsonian that he intended to set up for the night providing the weather broke. It was still raining at the time. We spent the evening huddled under the tarp-tent enjoying each others company and Thom’s awesome Steak Fajitas.

Around 10pm or so, we noticed a few stars high in the sky and got a brief view of Mars as it rose above the eastern horizon. At midnight, the skies cleared enough for about 30 or so stars to become visible directly overhead along with a brief glimpse of the Milky Way. I was itching to set up my ‘scope and wait it out but I followed the advise of Thom who reminded me how quickly the weather could change. The last thing I wanted was to be in the middle of setting the ‘scope up only to have a brief shower, or worse blow in. At 12:30 am, I hit the hay but set my alarm for 2am. At 2am, I woke to find the clouds had thinned out but not enough for any good viewing. Lightning was flashing over the jagged peaks to our south. At 4am, I woke once more to find virtually the same situation; high, thin clouds and a thick coating of dew on everything. I was glad I followed Thom’s advice. Mars looked like a glowing fuzz-ball through the clouds but I did have a nice naked-eye view of Saturn as it rose above Orion who was lying on his back staring upwards. I sat in the fresh mountain air and enjoyed the dawn before I lay back down and returned to sleep. At 6am, I woke to learn that Dennis and Geoff had been viewing Mars with Dennis’ Takahashi Refractor. There’s a benefit the little ‘scopes have over a big Dobsonian. Around 9am, most of the camp was up and about. Thom graced us once again with an awesome breakfast and we sat around talking of hopes of clear skies tonight. Myself excluded; I would have to leave today. I slowly packed up my tent and readied my load for the drive home. The skies were looking blue and promising.

Sierra (who had been a really good girl) and I said our goodbyes and we hit the road for home at noon.

For the drive home, I chose to start in an easterly direction to avoid the white-knuckle driving I had come on. I have really bad vertigo and the pass that leads into Nevada offered too many opportunities for me to experience that awful feeling. I drove east towards the town of Big Pine, California then south towards Barstow. From there I would take the I-15 north into Las Vegas.

The drive home was rather pleasant and the road for the most part clear. There were a few times where the road went down to single lanes and I found myself stuck behind slower moving traffic. Even though it was such a hassle wrapping my gear up in the plastic, I was glad I did as I passed through some heavy showers along the way. This route took me 120 miles out of my way but was only an hour longer. I pulled up in front of my house at 6pm. The skies were nice and blue. I unloaded my ‘scopes and took them directly into the backyard. I was determined to get one more night of viewing in before I had to get back to work. I wondered what kind of skies my friends were getting way up in the mountains.

All in all, it was a good trip despite the fact that I only had one night of viewing with my new ‘scope. I did finally get to met John in the daylight and now we know what each other look like. I am always happy to see Ara and to have met his friend Ana. Dennis had given the Starfinder his “seal of approval” and I was relieved about that. Some of the reviews I had read about the Meade 16” Starfinder were not kind. Geoff told me: “The man from Vegas took a gamble and came out a winner!” I’ll take that to the bank. Mostly I was glad to have seen Thom & Ellen once again although they still think I only had a hot water heater covered in plastic in the bed of my truck!

New Objects Viewed:

- NGC 6207 (Gx) Mag: 11.30 / Hercules
- NGC 7331 (Gx) Mag: 9.5 / Pegasus
- NGC 7319 (Gx) Mag: 14.10 / Pegasus (Stephens Quintet)
- NGC 604 (Part of M33) / Triangulum
- M77 / NGC 1068 (SG) Mag: 8.9, Size: 2’ x 2’ / Cetus
- NGC 936 (Gx) Mag: 10.10 / Cetus
- NGC 7479 (Gx) Mag: 11.60 / Pegasus
- NGC 7619 (Gx) Mag: 12.10 / Pegasus
- NGC 7626 (Gx) Mag: 12.20 / Pegasus

Other Objects Viewed:

- M57, M13, M20, The Veil, NGC 6934, M71, M27, M33, Mars, NGC 6543, M74, M38, M36, Saturn (naked-eye), The constellation: Orion