| Big Sur The first field trip I took with the Astronomy Dept. at Cabrillo College was with our instructor, Rick Nolthenius. The spot we went to to was south of Big Sur on Furgusen-Nacimiento Rd. Just go down Hwy 1 to Naimiento Rd. - turn left and then go up the mountain for about 15 miles. It's a nice campground not far from the Hunter-Ligget Military Reservation. Here is where we set up the telescopes and tents. Some other students set up camp up the hill to the right. |
Big Sur This is the first astronomy trip I went on that included Fred Miles, my now good friend. The fellow on the right I believe is Ed. |
Big Sur Kirk Bender relaxing after arrival and setting up his home-made 12" Dobsonian telescope. Kirk became a santa Cruz Astronomy Club member a few years later and wows little kids as well as big kids at club star parties. |
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| Big Sur I was one of the first to arrive. That's my tent. I hadn't been camping in years, so I went down to Outdoor World and got a nice little two-man tent. It barely fit one. When it rained most of the second night both my pillow and sleeping bag got soaked. Spent from about 2:00 AM in the car trying to get some sleep. When we left on the third day I gave it to one of the other students vowing to get a bigger tent for future observing trips. |
Big Sur The Ponderosa Campground was right next to a nice creek that was reeeealy cold! |
Big Sur More of the creek. |
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| Big Sur Here is our instructor/guide, Rick Nolthenius. Rick is an excellent teacher both for astronomy classes as well as astro photography. |
Big Sur A view of our set up area. |
Big Sur Scopes and tents. |
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| Big Sur My SUV and Fred's Sprinter. What a sweet rig! |
Big Sur Getting ready for breakfast. Everyone chipped in and brought something. |
Big Sur Rick cooking up his world famous crepes. They really are good! |
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| Big Sur Man, that is one itty-bitty pup tent! |
Big Sur On the second day we took a field trip down to the ocean with some stops along the way. We learned a lot about planetary formation and geology (tectonic plates, rocks...) |
Big Sur A view of the aera to which we were headed along Nacimiento Rd. A very windy and steep road for about 15 miles. |
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| Big Sur Our field trip destination. |
Big Sur Most of the gang. |
Big Sur Rick doing his thing - molding young minds :) Annie, there on Rick's left. Annie is a long time regular of these field trips as well as the asro photography classes. |
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| Big Sur Exploring the area. |
Big Sur Getting ready for dinner on the second night. It was already clouding up and getting ready to rain. Just after dinner when it got dark we got a moderate rain that lasted all night. Still, we gathered 'round the campfire under our umbrellas while Rick lectured about Cosmology issues. |
Big Sur Getting ready for the rain. |
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| Big Sur It's really hard to do astronomy with all those clouds. Still, on the first night we did get some good images, one of which was Comet Lulin. |
Big Sur Heading home. |
Big Sur Of course, the weather was beautiful after our trip :) Still, we had a fantastic time. Thanks, Rick! |
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