30 replies to this topic

[cjarvis64]

wonderful experience there Clark...feel bad for Elk and you as well - but this kind of things happen with us astro folks regardless.

 

you're experience gives a really good idea. I've never been there and was wondering if staying at hotel and coming back works or not. you just proved that it does.

 

maybe I missed in your post but did you stay completely overnight or you were back by midnight or little later?

I figured my experience was not unlike many others, especially in a national park like that 

 

It's completely doable but if you're there the whole week and bring enough camping gear or better yet, a camper, it would be much cheaper and more convenient to stay in the park at the campground rather than a hotel. Plus if you're there the whole week you can claim a spot for free if you claim early enough.

 

I arrived at the start of the event each night around 7-8pm and stayed until I couldn't keep my eyes open or the skies started misbehaving, usually leaving around midnight to 3am depending on the situation to go to the hotel outside of the park.

Edited by cjarvis64, 24 June 2024 - 08:51 AM.

[HenkSB]

This was my 4th year of going to the Kaibab forest star party which is about a half hour from the North rim and is held at the same time as the South and North rim star parties.  I like it because it is quiet and beautiful, and the setup site is within walking distance of my cabin and also of the Demotte campground for those who stay there.  

 

It is an outreach event for the guests of the Kaibab Lodge and Demotte campground.  The organizer always brings his 22" Dob and gives daily presentations.  The daily presentation is at the lobby of the Kaibab Lodge after dinner.  Outreach is between 9 and 11 PM but it is fine to do astrophotography there as well.  You can leave the equipment up for a whole week without a problem.  The setup site on the meadow does get the high beams of the cars turning the corner in the distance, but this can be avoided by moving 50 meters Eastward, which is OK. 

 

This year it was a bit quiet, too quiet perhaps - aside from the guests, most of the time on weekdays it was just me and the organizer!  On other years there were more participants with usually 2 to 10 telescopes.  I brought my 12" Dob and had a nice time doing visual.  In the daytime I often hiked, most notably crossed the GC North to South in one day before my 6-night stay at the Kaibab Lodge.  The Kaibab Plateau with its lush meadows, forests and hiking trails is a great place for a quiet getaway and stargazing under Bortle 0 skies.  It has become my annual vacation, very enjoyable thus far.

 

Thanks all for talking about the South and North rim star parties, I've been curious about them.  Maybe next year I'll check out the North rim star party one night.  While there haven't been any elk, there are bison.  Luckily, they seem to stay further South near the park entrance.

[Skylook123]

Here is a late update to GCSP 2024.  Susan and I had our reservations for the week, and were planning for a good event.  In March, however, my cardiologist intervened.  At a regular six month checkup, he found worsening calcium blockage of my aortic valve.  No problem, 3 months to fix it.  Except it took a month to consult with an "Interventional Cardiologist" and get filled in on Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement, or TAVR.  No chest cracking, just slip a catheter into the femoral artery and move an artificial valve/balloon combination into position over the failing valve, inflate the balloon, and the valve is moved into position in place of the original equipment.  About 45 minutes, done, stay overnight and go home.  Great, when can we do it?  I have a star party at 7,000 feet to attend.  Well, first, we have to do three tests to make sure you are "suitable" for this procedure.  Earliest we can get you in is May 1, 6, and 10.  OK, how about the main event.  Well, we can't schedule it until we get all the test results assembled and apply for permission from Medicare.  That will take about 14 days, maybe more.  So on May 1 we have the Trans Esophageal Echocardiogram; stick an acoustic device down the throat and check out the heart from behind.  Result, Pre-TAVR.  Go in on May 6 for a thorough left and right heart catheterization and stick a catheter in the femoral artery and get an idea of the structure and plumbing ahead. Result, Moderate Aortic Calcification.  Now for CT2, the CAT scan with contrast.  Rather short process, and now moderate-severe.  Ask Medicare.  Yawn.  Two weeks later, go for it.  NOW we can schedule your procedure.  Next open Tuesday, June 11.  Wait!  I need to be on the Grand Canyon South Rim for my 22nd consecutive GCSP!  Not a chance.  Roll in on June 11, short comment is this was the easiest surgical-type event I've ever had.  Hop up on the table, get some plumbing installed on both arms, and the groin shave, always a thrill.  Roll into the OR, say hello, then good night for an hour.  Wake up, feel GREAT (OK, maybe the propofol talking), get rolled into a room for the night.  In the afternoon, get another echocardiogram.  My Interventional Cardiologist stops by.  He tells me that first, my condition had changed to severe-critical at the time they started.  But first indications were that it was all very successful.  A month later, the assessment is that it was better than OK; two other heart features, congestive ventricular failure and an electrical anomaly, have disappeared.  Heart seems, for the present, 100%.  A new GCSP streak begins.

[mrkhagol]

That’s quite something..Good luck for next year Jim..

[cjarvis64]

Here is a late update to GCSP 2024.  Susan and I had our reservations for the week, and were planning for a good event.  In March, however, my cardiologist intervened.  At a regular six month checkup, he found worsening calcium blockage of my aortic valve.  No problem, 3 months to fix it.  Except it took a month to consult with an "Interventional Cardiologist" and get filled in on Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement, or TAVR.  No chest cracking, just slip a catheter into the femoral artery and move an artificial valve/balloon combination into position over the failing valve, inflate the balloon, and the valve is moved into position in place of the original equipment.  About 45 minutes, done, stay overnight and go home.  Great, when can we do it?  I have a star party at 7,000 feet to attend.  Well, first, we have to do three tests to make sure you are "suitable" for this procedure.  Earliest we can get you in is May 1, 6, and 10.  OK, how about the main event.  Well, we can't schedule it until we get all the test results assembled and apply for permission from Medicare.  That will take about 14 days, maybe more.  So on May 1 we have the Trans Esophageal Echocardiogram; stick an acoustic device down the throat and check out the heart from behind.  Result, Pre-TAVR.  Go in on May 6 for a thorough left and right heart catheterization and stick a catheter in the femoral artery and get an idea of the structure and plumbing ahead. Result, Moderate Aortic Calcification.  Now for CT2, the CAT scan with contrast.  Rather short process, and now moderate-severe.  Ask Medicare.  Yawn.  Two weeks later, go for it.  NOW we can schedule your procedure.  Next open Tuesday, June 11.  Wait!  I need to be on the Grand Canyon South Rim for my 22nd consecutive GCSP!  Not a chance.  Roll in on June 11, short comment is this was the easiest surgical-type event I've ever had.  Hop up on the table, get some plumbing installed on both arms, and the groin shave, always a thrill.  Roll into the OR, say hello, then good night for an hour.  Wake up, feel GREAT (OK, maybe the propofol talking), get rolled into a room for the night.  In the afternoon, get another echocardiogram.  My Interventional Cardiologist stops by.  He tells me that first, my condition had changed to severe-critical at the time they started.  But first indications were that it was all very successful.  A month later, the assessment is that it was better than OK; two other heart features, congestive ventricular failure and an electrical anomaly, have disappeared.  Heart seems, for the present, 100%.  A new GCSP streak begins.

Glad to hear everything is back to 100%! Good luck to next year, sounds like nothing will be in your way this time.

[Skylook123]

Thanks for the replies!  I still feel remarkably favored in the whole heart adventure.  Somewhere in the grand confines of this site I've previously cited other cardiac issues, like five bypasses 8 years ago (four of the arteries blocked 99.1%), but I survived because I've always like "going for a run".  I've run for fun for  the bypasses, raced distances in high school (not very successfully), then for enjoyment (!) for 60 more years.   I had the bypasses a couple of days after coming down from the GCSP 2016.  I was jogging 5 miles every other day, no pain nor any other symptom. It was time to get a general cardiac work-up since back then I was 69 and a long-time diabetic.  All the formal tests were inconclusive.  EKG stress test said all OK.  CAT Scan said I might have an obstruction.  PET Scan showed shadowing indicative of needing a stent.  Final check would be a catheterization to map the blood flow, scheduled for after we returned from GCSP 2016.  Upon return, I went in for the 30 minute test.  Went to sleep, but after 10 minutes was awakened to see my wife and doctor at the end of my bed asking if I could stay overnight, and showed me a scary sketch of my heart with blockages highlighted.  I should have died when any one of the valves reached over 90%.  Apparently my heart only needs a hint of blook and it soldiers on.  The quintuple bypasses went very well, I was up and working out in about 10 days now called the CABG Kid (Coronary Artery Bypass Graft).  Eight years later, my nascent heart murmur worsened to require the above TAVR.  Very, very fortunate.  Not many other folks can claim, at 77 years of age, that their heart is officially designated as 100%. 

 

We're here in Ohio for our annual family get-together.  We're staying with my wife's sister and her husband.  I have fun around him, and feel privileged every moment.  He's 7 years younger than I, and lives with a Left Ventricle Assist Device, LVAD. A very small electric device is with his heart and doing the blood pumping.  Think of it as a small Wankle rotary engine, but electrically powered.  Listen on a stethoscope, no pulse.  Just the low hiss.  No blood pressure.  He's getting considered for a transplant.  Power supplied by an electrical tether about 30 feet long for wall power, or connected to battery pack with a life of about 22 hours and then needs recharge.  He has 4 of these always ready.  Again, I feel quite fortunate.

Edited by Skylook123, 13 August 2024 - 11:24 PM.