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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 was south of Big
Sur on Furgusen-Nacimiento Rd. Just go down Hwy 1 to
Nacimiento 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
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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
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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
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Big Sur
The Ponderosa Campground was next to a nice creek
that was reeeealy cold!
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Big Sur
More of the creek
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Here is our instructor/guide, Rick Nolthenius.
Rick is an excellent teacher both for astronomy
classes as well as astro photography
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Big Sur
A view of our set up area.
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Big Sur
Scopes and tents
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My SUV and Fred's Sprinter. What a sweet rig!
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Getting ready for breakfast. Everyone chipped in and
brought something
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Rick cooking up his world famous crepes. They
really are good!
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Man, that is one itty-bitty pup tent!
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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...)
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Big Sur
A view of the area 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
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Most of the gang
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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 astro photography
classes
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Exploring the area
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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
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Big Sur
Getting ready for the rain
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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
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Big Sur
Heading home
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Big Sur
Of course, the weather was beautiful after our trip :)
Still, we had a fantastic time. Thanks, Rick!
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Except as noted all images Copyright © by Ron Yelton and may not be used without permission
Contact Ron at Aileron355@aol.com
