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Jekerdud t1_iww5st2 wrote

I go up there a few times a year. A few things I've noticed. Since you are going this time of year these tips are for the Astronomy field and not the campground since it's closed.

When you park your car, turn off ALL lights. Headlights, cab lights, and cover your dashboard. Devise a cover for your head/tail lights if they flash when you lock/unlock the car. You'll want to do this if you have to get in your car for any reason after dark, the lights aren't visible and annoying the others that are observing or taking astro photos. It is by far the most common thing that happens, and there's always someone that yells "Turn off those damn lights!"

Better to just avoid being the one yelled at!

Red lights only, keep them pointed down and as dim as possible. If you are taking a camper to be a little warmer in, cover all of the windows and don't open the door with white lights on. If you are tenting, stick to red lights in the tent, white will light up the field like a bright lamp.

Hand/toe warmers are your friend, sometimes even in warmer months, it gets chilly up there in the summer.

Be ready for cold hands after using the bathroom and washing your hands, the water isn't heated. But, they have air dryers that don't take too long to warm up.

Whether you are taking pictures or just looking with binoculars, bring some way to deal with dew/frost. It dews up very quickly there. There are cheap dew heaters for camera lenses that use a USB power bank that you can grab on Amazon (look for the SVBony one, it's adjustable so it doesn't melt your camera lens).

Some people with visual telescope setups (no cameras) may let you look through their telescope. Walk around a bit during the day and ask questions, people are generally friendly, at least in my experiences up there. Although with it being chilly and a holiday week, I don't suspect the astronomy field will be very populated.

On the field, there are no campfires for cooking. You can take a small propane grill but try not to cook anything greasy or with a lot of smoke, it can coat the optics of peoples setups and is a pain to clean.

Enjoy what you see!

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