Rolling in to GSSP 2018. Came in a day early to help with the setup. That also give me an extra night of imaging. This year I set up way out in the Oort Cloud with Fred. From Basset Rd. Fred and I are, I'm guessing, about 3/4 of a mile. From where this picture was taken at Basset Rd., the gate is another 1/4 mile.

Here is a long distance view. A little left of center is the hospitality tent. Most of the Santa Cruz gang was directly behind the tent and Fred and I are at the left edge beyond visual range.

A view to the north. Our field is slightly elevated with fields on three sides.

Another view to the north as folks are just beginning to arrive. This year all of the mowing was already finished by the time the astronomers arrived, so that gave our sinuses a welcome break. Last year they were mowing the last two days of our trip and with all that pollen floating around it was pretty miserable.

The view from where Fred and I were camping. This was in the afternoon on the arrival day and the area filled right up by the end of the day.

These were our initial neighbors. We had another couple of guys camp right next to us along the back fence. One fellow was from Chico and his buddy was from San Luis Obispo. We had one night that was cloudy off and on, so we all just got our chairs out and swapped stories while we looked for satellites and meteors.

Our good friend Bill Seiler. This year Bill's trek to GSSP was a real ordeal. His brakes went out in Redding, so he had to spend the first night there in a hotel. The next day he got a rental and brought all of his gear out to set up. Then he went back to Redding to pick up his car. He then made it as far as McArthur when the brakes failed again. He took it to a repair shop and they just happened to have the right parts. This sure wasn't the star party that he had envisioned and it cost him at least $2000. We were sure glad that he finally made it. We had started to get worried.

A huge surprise this year was the return of our prodigal son, Carl. Carl graduated fron UCSC a few years before and headed off to Ohio to do his post-doctoral work. It had been a few years since we'd seen him and now he's back - working at JPL for the time being. it's always fun having Carl around!

Carl and his new scope.

Walter and his big Celestron. This year Walter bought himself a used Sprinter. Since Walter doesn't drive anymore he wanted Carol to do the driving. She wasn't having any of that, though, so one of the other SCAC guys volunteered to drive. He was able to get all of his camping and astronomy gear into Walter's trailer. So it was all a win-win.

Bill Lockman with his gear all set up. This year Bill made an addition to his kit with a computer that mounts right on the Mount (the red thing between the two telescopes).

Robert Kohlenburg.

Carl and John taking it easy in the shade cave.

We were well represented this year with both of our signs up. If you wanted to find the SCAC guys there was no way of missing us. This year we had a record attendance - 14 folks from the SCAC. There were about 380 folks total at GSSP this year.

The other sign on John's shade cave.

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What makes this star party bearable is this - the shower truck. Four official days out camping in 90 degree temps. and you can get just a little ripe. The shower truck was open from about 8:00 - 5:00 and is one of the most popular spots on the property.

Al and Fred waiting in the shade just before dinner. Dinner is usually at 5:50 but we llike to get over there to the tent at about 5:00 pm and visit with all the other folks in the area.

Here Fred and I are chatting with Barbara. She is the matriarch of the Albaugh family - and still going strong. She shared some wonderful stories of the family and ranching in the old days with us. What a wealth of history.

Here is a telscope that was machined and bult completely from scratch. Amazing work!

Just one of the many, many Dobsonian telescopes that show up each year.

I have seen this homemade refractor and mount ever since I first started coming to GSSP back in 2010.

A shot of "Valley of the Dobs" on the eveniong of the first day. In a couple more days there would be so many that you had to be very careful walking around the area at night so as not to trip on someone's gear.

Another nice DOB.

In this and the next panel is another telescope that was built from scratch. All put together it looks like a real bear to assemble. But even the forks come apart so he has parts that weigh no more than about thirty pounds. Although he still needs a helping hand getting the OTA mounted on the fork.

Here it is all put together.

Meet Aaron Albaugh. He runs the Albaugh Ranch - Frosty Acres. The Albaugh family has been raising cattle since the early 1900s here in Big Valley. They own a large part of the land in the vicinity and are the nicest folks you'd ever like to meet. Their cattle are all grass fed and you can purchase as much as you'd like online.

You can purchase your dinner ticket ahead of time or at the door. The whole Albaugh family clan comes out to help with the setup, cooking and clean up.

The county plans to have their "Big Valley Days" fundraising celebration when all of the astronomers are in town. That means lots of extra people and lots of extra money. All of the proceeds go towards helping to fund various social programs. Modoc County is one of the poorest counties in the state. so it's all for a good cause. When the astronomers come to town each year we more than double the population of Adin. Sitting next door is Fred and Bill.

To my left is Al and a friend of his and his wife. Al and his friend go all the way back to elementary school in San Diego.

Sitting with me is Terry Dietz. Terry does wonderful time-lapse videos of astronomy events that are absolutely wonderful. This year he was working with Walter's mount and getting some astro images. Sorry, Terry - I took three pictures and never did get your eyes. :)

Over at another table was the rest of the gang. Right side back to front: Andy, Robert, Carl and Bill.

Over on the left side, front to back is: John, Steve Houlihan, and Walter and Carol.

This year's feed was sponsored by The Old Mill Grill located just down the road from our camping area. They have the BEST milkshakes.

And just to prove that I was there - here I am. :)

The annual fund raiser is usually done here at the Adin Park. Here in the front corner is a kind of memorial section.

Here are some pictures of the park full of hungry astronomers and locals. I think the local folks enjoy when we come to town. We always bring a big boost to the local economy, we're a very friendly group and we're respectful of the land and people. We also clean up after ourselves.

The park.

Another view of the park looking SW.

The dessert table.

On both Saturday and Sunday mornings we had some rain to wake us up. Sunday's light rain lasted for about an hour. Of coarse, now we got to pack up tents and gear that was wet...! John got up early to catch this view off to the east while it was still spinkling.

Although you can't see it from here - I set up my tent on the back side of Fred's sprinter. It was tucked in close and then we spread some aluminet from the top of the van and down over my tent to make a pretty good shadeed area for me. The temps. all week were in the 90s - so shade is about important as water. Sunset on Thursday evening.

I really like this one. A beautiful snset with Fred's sprinter and antenna along with my imaging rig. Mt. Shasta is right there in the center.

Lots of folks would come out to our corner at sunset to take pictures and we would get to visit with them.

John Pierce did a fantastic video of the GSSPers with his drone. Check this one out. It's great! Clear skies and hi-def! Terry was kind enough to let me include his photos here as well. Check them out below.