223 replies to this topic

[Hootamunk]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm based out of north Seattle suburbs and looking for a decent dark sky camping spot for mid June. Preferably a car camping accessible Bortle 3 or better spot. Having a cell signal and accessible shade is a big bonus. Looking at a light pollution map and a state park map I've been mainly coming across spots in eastern WA.

 

Wanapum/Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park. Sun Lakes. Goldendale (I know this is a popular spot). Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Brooks Memorial St park. Palouse Falls. Steamboat Rock...

 

Any recommendations/advice/reviews for any of these spots (or your own favorite) would be appreciated!! Hoping to stay just 1 night (probably weekday) and enjoy some warmer climate and get in some observing and astrophotography. Thank you!

[SteveRosenow]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm based out of north Seattle suburbs and looking for a decent dark sky camping spot for mid June. Preferably a car camping accessible Bortle 3 or better spot. Having a cell signal and accessible shade is a big bonus. Looking at a light pollution map and a state park map I've been mainly coming across spots in eastern WA.

 

Wanapum/Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park. Sun Lakes. Goldendale (I know this is a popular spot). Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Brooks Memorial St park. Palouse Falls. Steamboat Rock...

 

Any recommendations/advice/reviews for any of these spots (or your own favorite) would be appreciated!! Hoping to stay just 1 night (probably weekday) and enjoy some warmer climate and get in some observing and astrophotography. Thank you!

One of the best 'car camping' spots I'd recommend, with a pretty unobstructed view of the sky, is the Smith Creek Viewpoint at Windy Ridge, in Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. It's around Bortle 2.5 in terms of night sky brightness and since Mount St. Helens pretty much obstructs a lot of Portland/Vancouver's light pollution dome, you won't have much in the way of light pollution to contend with. 

This was captured on the evening of August 28, 2022 during a new moon weekend. I believe @seawolfe was down there that night as well, as we both saw quite an impressive meteor shower that night. 



 

[Hootamunk]

Great picture! Thanks for the suggestion. I'll add it to the list

[SteveRosenow]

Great picture! Thanks for the suggestion. I'll add it to the list

Thank you, and anytime! 

I actually volunteer at MSHI (Mount St. Helens Institute), and there's actually some nights where astronomers are invited to the former Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center building as well. 

 

[square_peg]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm based out of north Seattle suburbs and looking for a decent dark sky camping spot for mid June. Preferably a car camping accessible Bortle 3 or better spot. Having a cell signal and accessible shade is a big bonus. Looking at a light pollution map and a state park map I've been mainly coming across spots in eastern WA.

 

Wanapum/Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park. Sun Lakes. Goldendale (I know this is a popular spot). Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Brooks Memorial St park. Palouse Falls. Steamboat Rock...

 

Any recommendations/advice/reviews for any of these spots (or your own favorite) would be appreciated!! Hoping to stay just 1 night (probably weekday) and enjoy some warmer climate and get in some observing and astrophotography. Thank you!

Horizons are limited but there are some very dark skies along Hwy 21 south of Republic. Check out Ferry Lake Campground and Ten Mile Campground.
https://cdn.geekwire...160610-wash.jpg

I haven't been there but it looks like you'd find better horizons at the Ten Mile Trail, about 15 minutes from Ferry Lake Campground.
https://www.google.c...1!1e4?entry=ttu

[seawolfe]

If everything aligns correctly, I'll be at my fav. spot at Mt. St. Helens this Friday and Saturday.  Not the most favorable Moon, but it was the earliest I could get time off.  I'll be at the Smith Creek Overlook on the road to Windy Ridge (FR99).

[Newnoob7]

For those like me that don't have a backyard, where do you typically observe from close to home? (<30 mins drive from Seattle/Eastside). Short of moving to a new place, it seems nigh on impossible since city parks are a no-go(hours). It would be nice to go out for casually viewing planets without the pressure to drive far, find a campsite and then try to make the most of each session.

[seawolfe]

For those like me that don't have a backyard, where do you typically observe from close to home? (<30 mins drive from Seattle/Eastside). Short of moving to a new place, it seems nigh on impossible since city parks are a no-go(hours). It would be nice to go out for casually viewing planets without the pressure to drive far, find a campsite and then try to make the most of each session.

Thirty minutes from Seattle / Eastside?  How dark of a sky do you want?

 

To get DARK skies, you can either take the ferry to the Peninsula and go to Hurricane Ridge, or take I-90 to the Cascades or Eastern WA.

 

For me, I've been to a few places in Eastern WA were the skies are much darker than the bright skies of the Seattle area.  Even crowded Mt. Rainier has decent night skies.  This year, I went to Drumheller Basalt area just south of Moses Lake and the skies were pretty nice....the mosquitos not withstanding.  Frenchman Coulee was nice (when there isn't some light show happening at the Gorge Amphitheater).  For me, it is Mt. St. Helens as it is a 2 1/2 hour drive to dark skies and the mountain plays light blocker to the PTL / Vancouver dome.  The downside is the wind (that usually dies at sundown but didn't this time) and sometimes clouds as what happened this past Friday for me.   I had anticipated the near 1st Quarter Moon, but not the clouds and what appeared to be, smoke (the setting Moon was RED).

 

Moon over Mt. St. Helens before the clouds came in.

 

Edited by seawolfe, 15 July 2024 - 09:15 AM.

[Caddman]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm based out of north Seattle suburbs and looking for a decent dark sky camping spot for mid June. Preferably a car camping accessible Bortle 3 or better spot. Having a cell signal and accessible shade is a big bonus. Looking at a light pollution map and a state park map I've been mainly coming across spots in eastern WA.

 

Wanapum/Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park. Sun Lakes. Goldendale (I know this is a popular spot). Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Brooks Memorial St park. Palouse Falls. Steamboat Rock...

 

Any recommendations/advice/reviews for any of these spots (or your own favorite) would be appreciated!! Hoping to stay just 1 night (probably weekday) and enjoy some warmer climate and get in some observing and astrophotography. Thank you!

Flattop Snow Park out of Trout Lake, Wa. is a nice area. It consists of a large parking lot with restrooms and it's dark. Contact the Gifford Pinchot FS office in Trout Lake about camping there. I'm not sure what the current rules are. However, I do see people camping there on holidays.

[Newnoob7]

Thirty minutes from Seattle / Eastside?  How dark of a sky do you want?

 

Maybe I should've said "any place I can use regularly", in lieu of a backyard, regardless of light pollution. Such a public place likely does not exist, but some areas seem to be more or less gray than others...

 

 

I had anticipated the near 1st Quarter Moon, but not the clouds and what appeared to be, smoke (the setting Moon was RED

Yeah, that sounds about right, looking at the smoke plume from https://fire.airnow.gov/

[Caddman]

My friend, Steve (Buckeroo), began imaging a couple of months ago. He asked me to process his image of M106.

Mike, if you are still following this thread, Steve sends his regards.

[Buckaroo2]

I am back in the saddle. Where is everyone?

 

                                    Steve

[seawolfe]

I am back in the saddle. Where is everyone?

 

                                    Steve

Working and dodging the full Moon, then the rain / clouds.

 

But next week is looking to clear up.

[zerro1]

Checking in. Yep, still alive! Caught this back in May (prior to the big storm) over in Winthrop. My understanding is that that the blue is a result of solar particles colliding with nitrogen. Double cluster and Cassiopeia 

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[Buckaroo2]

Make pnw eterna thread great again! Say hello to my little friends. (well some of them)

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[Buckaroo2]

My granddaughter took this from trout lake WA back in may

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[Hootamunk]

Make pnw eterna thread great again! Say hello to my little friends. (well some of them)

By my count we've had ONE clear night in the last 6+ weeks, so depressing!

[Caddman]

Buckaroo2 talked my into going narrowband last summer.

Soul Nebula SHO
https://www.astrobin.com/ftglrv/

[Buckaroo2]

By my count we've had ONE clear night in the last 6+ weeks, so depressing!

You live on the wrong side of the tracks (state) my friend. At one time the Mt. Saint Helens star party was the most active thread on cloudy nights.

[zerro1]

Hi, I'm still kicking

October 10th 2024, West of Waterville

[zerro1]

Moses Coulee at the Jameson Lake Road. SAR Arc looking South

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[BradleyB]

Did a little observing here  47.013011, -123.126041  last night. This is up towards Rock Candy Mtn in the Capitol State Forest west of Olympia. Not the best place with a light dome from Tacoma and Olympia to the north east, and a tiny bit of light from Aberdeen area. It was supposed to be totally clear, and it was for a while, then an errant cloud came over and dropped a couple of snow flakes. Sorry no pictures. 

 

Brad

[seawolfe]

By my count we've had ONE clear night in the last 6+ weeks, so depressing!

There have been several clear nights this past week but I haven't been able to enjoy any of them.  I've been On Call for two weeks straight and also fighting a bug that has made me go to bed as soon as I got off work.  Any calls in the night would only have me online long enough to fix the problem and then it was back to sleep. 

[BradleyB]

This previous Sunday we went observing here 47.013011, -123.126041 again. It's only about a 25 minute drive from home, though half of that is on logging roads. This time everything worked out great. It was above the inversion so it was in the upper 30's and very dry, no dew at all. Temperatures were steady so once the mirror was equalized Endurance was showing it's excellent figure. Seeing was about as good as ever at these latitudes. I had some of the best views of Jupiter and Mars I've ever had. Every once in a while incredible detail on Jupiter would just pop out at me. Mars was showing defined dark areas and a polar ice cap. Faint stuff was not as good of course due to the light domes, but I think I was just able to make out M33. So, I've put in an order for a Hubble UL14 which I hope to receive in a couple of months. It will not need a ladder and is lighter weight than Endurance, and I hope the optics are as good. I guess I'll need to sell off my reflectors. Anyway we had a great night. 

 

Brad