I have a friend that bought an acre piece of land just past the Lava Point turnoff near the Kolob Terrece area of Zion National Park. What is nice about the site is that it is 8000-9000 ft in elevation, it is gated with a lock on the gate, and the property is above Kolob Reservoir road so car lights are not a problem. What is also nice about the site is besides being next to a national park, there is no electricity for the surrounding cabins. This means no annoying light pollution from nearby cabins. I bring my own portable Kendrick battery pack to power my fan or to power my mount. My friend has one concrete pad there and plans to put a few more pads in the future. It may be benificial in the future to haul a porta-pottie up there next spring. I can leave my telescope up there for a few days if I desire although I think I would keep an eye on it once in a while. The place is secure but you never know about animals, bugs, or birds. I think not having electricity up there is more of an advantage than a disadvantage. I'll take pictures when I get up there later in the spring. Debbie

From: Chuck Hards <chuckhards@yahoo.com> Date: 2004/12/23 Thu AM 10:55:09 MST To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Re: Dark Site

Daniel Turner wrote:

...

The best investment for dark skies is a tank of gasoline and drive to the boonies.

Just go do it.

Dan, you miss the point. A secure dark site means that you can leave equipment there and not have to haul it back and forth every time. Perhaps even erect an observatory and only polar-align once; leave the mount set-up. Maximize one's time if imaging. It's not the local residents we worry about, its the idiots, drunks, target-shooters and vandals, and yes they are out there even in the farthest-flung boonies. Others have mentioned what they would want additionally: Power, toilet facilities, warming or bunk room, etc. Things you can't haul around with you unless you have too much money. I'm glad you have an observing style that suits you, but one size doesn't fit all.

BUT-

I am also now convinced that a club-sponsored site is not a good idea, and the reason is obvious, don't know why it didn't occur to me sooner! Doh!

Anyone interested in a possible private co-op arraingement contact me off-list. If there are enough of us, lets get together after the holidays and research prices, locations, etc., and see where it leads. I don't want to keep knotting the shorts of SLASers so lets just take it off their radar. The Polaris club has been cited here before as a model, if time permits in coming weeks I'll dig out what I have on that association.

__________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Find what you need with new enhanced search. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250

_______________________________________________ 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.utahastronomy.com