BajaNomad

San Pedro Martir trip

BajaGeoff - 8-4-2011 at 02:21 PM

I had a chance to go up to the observatory last week and do a bit of a tour, as well as stop in to meet fellow Nomad "astrobaja" at the Baja Dark Skies Inn. Great trip!

San Pedro Martir Trip

TMW - 8-4-2011 at 02:53 PM

Great stuff. I haven't been to the observatory in probably 7 or 8 years. I haven't yet been to Astrobaja's place yet either but I will. Beautiful country.

BornFisher - 8-4-2011 at 03:03 PM

Thanks for the report-- Great pic of the desert and sea!

bajajurel - 8-4-2011 at 03:06 PM

Really neat report! I've been by that turnoff so many times and wanted to do it so now I will after reading about your trip.

How much is the B&B?

Can you go up there at night and see through the telescope?

BajaGeoff - 8-4-2011 at 03:28 PM

Gracias!

Here are the rates for the B&B:

Baja Dark Skies Inn Rates and Reservations

I am pretty sure Mike lets people use his telescope....but I think the big ones at the top of the park are off limits to visitors.

David K - 8-4-2011 at 07:38 PM

Geoff... Did you drive to the end of the road (big observatory) or stop at the sign/ gate? and wait for someone to lead you in?

J.P. - 8-4-2011 at 08:19 PM

A couple years back after passing the turn off like so many do we left punta banda early one morning and drove up I dont know what my expectations were but we both were totalt in awe. we stopped at the visitors center and talked to a nice young man he told us about the condors,mountian lions and deer.then we drove up to the observatory met one of the gus coming down the hill he told us it was past visiting hours, but he turned around and took us up and opened it up and took us to the top WOW what a view.
Ever since we tell people its a must do when you go or come south. all and all it made for a very enjoyable day from here.

Ken Cooke - 8-5-2011 at 12:28 AM

I remember before the road was built. That about a rough journey! I can't wait to go back. Thank you for all of the great photos, Geoff.

BajaGeoff - 8-5-2011 at 09:16 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by David K
Geoff... Did you drive to the end of the road (big observatory) or stop at the sign/ gate? and wait for someone to lead you in?


We were meeting up with one of the guys that works up there, so he met us at the gate and gave us the tour.

Ken....I can't imagine what it must have been like before the road was built!

David K - 8-5-2011 at 09:29 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Ken Cooke
I remember before the road was built. That about a rough journey! I can't wait to go back. Thank you for all of the great photos, Geoff.


The road was built in the late 1960's... the observatories (2 small ones) were up in 1970...

Maybe you meant when the road was PAVED (2004-2007)?

Ken Cooke - 8-5-2011 at 11:58 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by David K


Maybe you meant when the road was PAVED (2004-2007)?


Paved is a much better term, David. :yes:

David K - 8-5-2011 at 04:36 PM

10-4 amigo... You know me... details, details! :rolleyes:

shari - 8-5-2011 at 08:22 PM

thanks Geoff, great report...I am soooo impressed and proud of my paisanos Mike & Pam's accomplishments up there. We cant wait to visit to see it for ourselves...perhaps around apple harvest???

astrobaja - 8-8-2011 at 10:21 AM

Geoff,

It was a pleasure to meet you and Erick! Did you guys end up staying the night in one of the observatorio cabanas?

Bajajurel: for sure I give guided tours of sky objects in my 18" and 30" telescopes. I also have a pair of 20X90 binoculars for wide field tours of the night sky, they are mounted on a parallelogram mount for comfort.
I would say 99.8% of the time professional observatory intruments are used with CCD cameras and other instrument packages. Very few are ever used visually! One of the few observatories that actually gives a visual tour of deep sky objects (galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, etc) is McDonald observatory in west Texas. Although for now the programme is suspended. Not a surprise there when I did it some years back it was in total darkness with twin split level half moon shaped platforms that were sometimes 25 feet above the floor level. Very cool experince though!

http://mcdonaldobservatory.org/visitors/programs/82SVN.html

Shari: Thanks paisana! Hey you are no stranger to lots of hard work either! The hardest part was always getting the raw materials in here, one pickup truck load at a time!
Sure apple harvest would be a good time of year, less bugs, cooler nights!
Let us know!

cheers

Mike

bajadock - 8-8-2011 at 10:52 AM

Geoff,
Thanks for the excellent trip report. I still have not been up there. Thanks for motivation.

BajaGeoff - 8-9-2011 at 04:45 PM

Hey Mike!

We ended up heading down the mountain and staying in Colonet. We had quite a bit of ground to cover on Saturday, so we thought an earlier start would help out. It was really great to meet you and Pam, and I can't wait to get back up there when we can spend the night and relax a bit!

Thanks shari and bajadock!

Marc - 8-13-2011 at 09:45 PM

On my to do list.

Mexitron - 8-14-2011 at 07:58 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by David K
Quote:
Originally posted by Ken Cooke
I remember before the road was built. That about a rough journey! I can't wait to go back. Thank you for all of the great photos, Geoff.


The road was built in the late 1960's... the observatories (2 small ones) were up in 1970...

Maybe you meant when the road was PAVED (2004-2007)?


What I remember as being the worst part of the road in 1978 was having to drive up the San Telmo riverbed---deep sand and 2-wheel drive----about every mile there'd be a cow in the road so we'd have to stop, scare the cow out of the road, then push ourselves out of the sand (eh, I didn't know about airing down back then.....).