Holy Crap! Dark Skies!

Observing at Pinos this past Saturday July 6th was decent enough despite the grand station character of the crowds at night; however, visual observing from Mammoth Lakes, Yosemite area is simply phenomenal. Although I didn't bring my 16'' scope with me, the grandeur of the Milky Way in its entirety, arcing across the sky at new moon, is something to behold. I would estimate the Milky Way appearing as a thundercloud to be several times more intense in its character than what you would see at Mt. Pinos. The only downside is there are ten to twenty mile per hour winds at these altitudes but the view is worth it. My dob would probably be a sailboat up here, but the entirety of the Milky Way up here is simply overwhelming.
Coming to you from Mammoth Lakes and Yosemite, and additional reports if wifi permits...

Hey Uncle Rod! Have fun you lucky devil! Paul

That sounds wonderful. The Eastern Sierra can be very dark. I have heard that Grandview Campground in the White Mountains is spectacular and I know from experience how dark Death Valley can be. My wife and I visited Bodie State Historical Park two weeks ago and it's probably outstanding at night except that the park is daytime only.

In the summer, our club uses a primitive camping site near Courtright Reservoir (elevation 8200') in eastern Fresno County that is one of the best sites on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. The site is a vehicle accessible, 5000+ sf, level granite slab. It has a good to excellent NW-N-E-S-SW horizon. The site is usually Bortle Class 2, though sometimes a little better and sometimes a little worse (haze to the SSW can show the light dome from Visalia, which is about 60 miles away). I was at Courtright this past weekend, but for some reason (probably proximity to July 4) none of the rest of our regulars made it up. I entertained a bunch of rock climbers on Friday and a Fresno State physics professor and his wife on Saturday along with a couple of hikers who obviously never passed a science class. Saturday evening was slightly darker than Friday but also a little breezy. I usually bring my 8" SCT, but for this trip I only took my 5" SCT because I was trying out my new Celestron Advanced VX mount (a very good mount BTW). The physics prof was amazed at how much my 5" SCT could show, but his point of comparison is an aged and apparently low quality 4" Newt. Anyway, it was loads of fun and after the "tourists" went to bed, I had another 3 to 4 hours of pure solitude under a bright Milky Way. Come to think of, it was kind of nice that the rest of my club didn't show up.