Bill,

Appreciate the offer to come out. I'm sorry that our schedules didn't
match up, hopefully we can get together soon. But that turned out to
be a good thing...

Jumped in the car late Saturday afternoon and headed 3.5 hours West to
a friends house near Robbinsville, NC. It was pretty darn hazy when I
got there, so we deceided to try out a spot we knew about up on the
Cherohala Skyway.

Road Map - Hooper Bald Trailhead:
<http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=84+0.056+W+35+18.232+N&ie=UTF8&ll=35.30\
3849,-84.00095&spn=0.051484,0.10849&t=h&om=1>

Light Pollution overlay snapshot:
<http://web.infoave.net/~dmcook/darkskies/DS-Hooper_Bald1.jpg>

Observing conditions were outstanding! I can't remember the last time
I had seen the Milky Way and it was there in all it's glory. At nearly
5000 ft we were clearly above most of the humidity. The winds were
light, but with the site being on a ridge at such an altitude I'm sure
the potential for wind is substantial.

The site (Hooper Bald Trailhead) is a small paved parking lot situated
above the roadway and was removed from headlights of [rare] passing
traffic. There is an outhouse facility there. The skies were open on
all sides but the South where there were trees lining the parking lot.
There were NO direct lights visible from ANY direction and there was
some glow visible from Knoxville, TN in the low NNE sky. Lagoon Nebula
was very striking as it finally popped up over the trees before we
left the site.

This will be a tough act to follow, but I wanted to share it here for
those willing to travel. I'm very familiar with the area since I used
to do a lot of motorcycle riding there. I would be happy to provide
additional details regarding motels & such if you're interested.

Clear Skies,
--Doug


--- In gastoncountyskywatchers@yahoogroups.com, "William Schwittek"
<syzygy@...> wrote:
>
> I live about 2 miles south of the park entrance on hwy 161. It's quite
> a good place to observe. Late at night, when the lights go out at car
> dealers and quickstops, M31 easy to spot. Of course there is some
> effect from Charlotte, Gastonia, and Kings Mountain but it's tolerable.
>
> I have several open, unobstructed fields and have power run out to a
> permanent pier. If someone would like to occasionally observe from here
> you can contact me at:
>
> syzygy at vnet dot net
>
> - Bill