Not much more to be said. Steve hit it on the nail. I really enjoyed the time there as well. Kelly Carroll and the rest of the staff bent over backwards to take care of our needs. For us, he had reserved camping spots for us, but our trailer wouldn't fit. So Kelly found us a place, which was quite nice. The cave is spectacular. Steve and I share the enthusiasm to help this program grow. I will be going back again. Thanks again to the GPNP. Dale ________________________________ From: Steve FISHER <sfisher01@msn.com> To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Sent: Mon, September 6, 2010 6:27:17 PM Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Great Basin Not to be outdone, this weekend Dale Wilson and I showed up at Great Basin National Park for their public outreach program for Labor Day. It ran only Saturday and Sunday night. Dale and I had independently been in contact with Ranger Kelly Carroll and just showed up at the same time. The skies were spectacular. Saturday was simply awesome. Sunday night turned much colder and the cold front moving in affected the seeing for sure. The winds were calm most of Saturday night and very manageable on Sunday night. Really only breezes. The Great Basin Park is as dark as any other National Park in the country and it is much less crowded than Bryce. I would estimate that there were between 75 and 100 people there to observe each night. We only had five scopes on Saturday night and six scopes on Sunday night. My only complaint would be that the upper lot at the visitor's center is not the optimal observing site since cars for the public are pulling into the lower level during the event. I have it on good authority that they plan on growing the program and I'm sure it won't be long before some significant changes allow for better protection from the publics cars. The staff, volunteers and even the gift shop people couldn't have been nicer or more accommodating. Great hiking, (slow walking for me) excellent facilities and the caves are something everyone should see. WOW. Steve _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com