Star Party at the McDonald Observatory

Along the same windy Texas road as Davis Mountain State Park resides the McDonald Observatory, a research facility of the University of Texas in Austin. Knowing that our Thanksgiving camping trip was taking place during a new moon, and that the Big Bend Region is an International Dark Sky reserve, we made it a point to plan a visit.  In fact, we bought tickets for the Star Party on Friday night - which, unfortunately was cancelled because of the first snow of the season that evening. 

I checked online to see if there were any tickets left for Saturday night, but it was showing sold out.  RDB and I went over to the Observatory Saturday afternoon anyway, as general admission was under $10 for the both of us, and we could at least check out the exhibits.

The visitor center has a relatively small museum (appropriate for the relatively small ($3/person) entry fee) and a few interesting learning points. (Case in point: the museum space was made in partnership with a well-known oil company out of Houston.... same company that I partnered with for several years who planted a tree in my honor!) Being self-guided, you had the ability to travel to the domes there on campus and check out the telescopes - except that the snow/slush/ice still hanging around kept us from visiting the two larger domes.  They definitely got more snow up here on the mountain tops than we did in the campground.

We drove up to the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) dome and the George T. Abell Gallery - built into the side of the telescope dome so that visitors could see the telescope without being cramped inside the dome housing (and behind a glass wall so we wouldn't accidentally mess with anything either!)

The magnitude of the HET and its innovative 10-meter, 91-segment primary mirror makes it one of the largest optical telescopes in the world.  The current research being done under the HET Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) will search a large region of the sky 10 billion light years beyond the visible stars in the Ursa Major constellation. 

It is such an incredible thing that there are so many individuals devoted to the sciences beyond just what we see here in the natural world.  That was obvious to us from the staff and volunteers who were in attendance at the Star Party that evening (we were in luck - I asked at the front desk if there were any options for attending since ours had been canceled the night before, and yes! they had several cancelations, so there was space for us.)

So after a quick trip back down the mountain to the camper for dinner, we came back after dark for what will be one of our most memorable nights of this trip!

Behind the visitor's center is a rock-hewn amphitheater where the program starts. Kevin was our host for the evening and he just radiated love for the galaxy and knowledge about the stars.  He spent the better part of an hour walking us thru techniques for getting the best view in a telescope (averted gaze), how to protect our night-eyes ("You traveled hundreds, maybe even thousands of miles to be here tonight, so Be. Here.  Please, turn off your cell phone."), where to see shooting stars, ("Always in the direction that I'm not looking!"), even how to leave the parking lot with our headlights facing away from the Observatory to protect the night vision of those still looking thru the telescopes ("If you see a bunch of angry people in the headlights front of you, you did it wrong.")

Hard to get really clear long-exposure shots without a tripod.

As he transitioned into the constellation "tour" part of his talk, I looked up and could clearly see the Milky Way above us.  As it has before, it brought tears to my eyes to be reminded that there is so much more out there than the everyday hustle-and-bustle that is our daily grind. Kevin continued our education of the stars, explaining why and how the various constellations came to be, guiding us with his bright green laser pointer to various places in the dark sky, pointing out satellites as they flew by, including the only satellite orbiting the Earth with people on board - we saw the International Space Station  ("Everybody wave!") 

Kevin finished out the educational part of the Star Party by reminding us of the importance of minimizing light pollution. I've commented on the impact of it on the blog before, too, on another trip to an International Dark Sky Park.  Pointing to the northern horizon, Kevin talked with us about how the glow of light pollution from the Permian Basin region, and all the oil and gas exploration/drilling that's been increasing over the years, has become a problem.  Thankfully many companies have been willing to work with consultants from the Observatory and light pollution in the region peaked back in 2016.  Though its no laughing matter, it was kinda funny when the crowd went "ohhhh!" as a star shot across the sky in the direction we were all looking, "Yes, yes, a shooting star, but come on! Priorities, people!!," lamented Kevin as he gave us a final warning of the cost of inaction.  

With the conclusion of Kevin's talk, we were released over to the telescope section of the park - not the BIG telescopes we had toured early, but several smaller 'amateur' astrologists who had volunteered to come out and line up sights for us, AND the two smaller domes there by the visitor's center.  Some of the expected targets for the evening included Jupiter and Saturn, several star clusters, and The Pleiades (aka: The Seven Sisters, aka: Subaru) which you can see as the light blue cluster towards the top of the photo below:

I obviously didn't get many pictures (trust me, you did not want to turn on your iPhone in this crowd - people were getting serious about keeping their night vision!) but towards the end of the event RDB and I snuck off to the edges of the area and got a few night shots.  Just an FYI - the difference between a 10 second shutter time and a 30 second shutter time at night is huge:

10 second shutter

30 second shutter

We've been to Star Parties at the George Observatory at Brazos Bend before, so we knew what to expect, but the educational component, and Kevin's knowledge and passion in the tour of the night sky, really set this experience apart.  Would it be too much if I said: this was a FIVE STAR event?  Because it 100% was, pun totally intended!  

One last note: if you're a space geek like me, you might be interested in the longest running national radio science segment - StarDate - that is produced here at the Observatory; I've heard them on NPR so many times I can't count, and hadn't put two-and-two together till this weekend.  RDB and I picked up one of the StarDate magazines in the gift shop, and it's a quick read, has neat information, and would be a great gift to any budding astronomers in your life.

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(Hope y'all enjoyed this "sneak peak" of our #gobbleinthemountains Thanksgiving '22 camping trip. More to come as the adventures continue!) 

Hiking the Davis Mountains

“Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain,

but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.”

- Andy Rooney

Davis Mountains State Park has some of the most incredible hiking that RDB and I have experienced in 10 years of camping.  In fact, at some point in our 4 miles of hiking I mentioned to RDB that I should go back and change any post that says we were 'hiking' to 'walking on trials' or anything else - because this was hiking.

We had planned to hike on Friday, but the first snow of the season made us change plans.  When we woke without the predicted 8-15" of snow Saturday morning, we bundled up and planned out the trails we wanted to hike.  

Before I dump a whole lot of incredible photos on you, I thought we'd share a few items we've collected over the years that will make your hike much, much more enjoyable:

Camelbak - Having an appropriate amount of water while you hike is important, and I'm not one for doing a whole lot of math on this blog, so I'd refer you to REI's great article about Hydration Basics. RDB and I both have our own Camelback - not just for the very convenient hands free way to carry a gallon of water each, but also b/c they make great small carry-all back packs for other small items you may need. 

Trekking Poles - This was the first time we've used these (and also the first time hiking serious terrain) and I can totally see the appeal.  They give you two additional points of contact to the ground, help you navigate up or down crumble/scree surfaces, and help to engage your full body in the hike by keeping your arms moving along for support. 

Hiking Boots (and socks) - These are perhaps one of the most important items for comfortable hiking: a really good, sturdy pair of boots. RDB and I both have a pair of Keens - his are lower cut, mine are higher up on the ankle.  After a long day of hiking, we both felt that we had the support we needed to comfortably navigate the rocky terrain. 

And perhaps one last, fun item: Sunglasses - With a need for RX glasses, and knowing that I tend to scratch or lose them (often), I'm all about an inexpensive and fun pair for outdoor activities.  Zeelool often has frames dirt cheap, and lenses for under $50.  Shipping takes forever in this two-day-Prime world, and the will send you text deals way too frequently, but the quality and price are prefect. 

Now that you're all geared up, here's our hike: we started at the Headquarters Trail, then on to Montezuma's Quail Trail, connecting to the Indian Lodge Trail (marked: challenging) and then creating a loop by walking back the camp road till we could pick up Headquarters Trail again back to our car... and a loop or two around the ranger station to get us to that full 4 miles we wanted. 

Snow, Steps, and Stars

 "The sun has risen, the sun has set, and here I am in Texas yet!"

The old Texas saying certainly holds true for our long-awaited trip to the Big Bend region - it was a loooong drive to get out here, and there's still more of Texas even further west than where we are! (602 miles we traveled, another 205 to reach the New Mexico boarder!) 

I'm thankful for the friends/colleagues who've sent me postcards over the past few weeks. <3

We left out the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, making our way thru Kerrville (a one night stopover at the Kerrville KOA Journey) and continued the long drive over to Davis Mountains State Park on Thanksgiving day. 

The route from Kerrville to Fort Davis is nearly a direct shot west on I-10, which made it a very easy drive, but be forewarned: you should fill up in Junction (even if you don't really need to) because there's only one gas station along that entire stretch of I-10 until you get to Fort Stockton.... and they happen to be closed on Turkey Day.

But I suppose at least you could phone a friend, if you needed to!

Also, it's super helpful when you're on those long, long stretches to carry your own bathroom with you! HA!

We drove into the park right at dusk on Thanksgiving and settled into our site - readying ourselves for what was expected to be a cold and snowy night.  Weather services were predicting 2-3 inches overnight so we bundled up, turned on the tank heaters, fired up the heated blankets and woke in the morning to.... nothing.

But that didn't last long!  At 28* outside, once the rain did start, we had snow!

LOTS of snow! (And yes, I was like a little kid, trying to catch the big snowflakes on my tongue!)

The entire park got a dusting of snow in the morning, which shifted us away from our plans of hiking the mountain trails on Friday; we made the best of the day by jumping in the truck and taking off for Alpine, stopping in at nearby Fort Davis first to see the Jeff Davis County courthouse.

Covered in snow, it almost looked like the background to a Hallmark Christmas movie!

We took the snowy roads south down to Alpine, which also happens to be a county seat (Brewster County) so we stopped over by the courthouse to get another picture, snow and all.

From there, we just went a few blocks over to our actual destination, the Museum of The Big Bend. 

They're undergoing construction for a large addition to the exhibit space, but in talking with one of the volunteers, Randy, at the front desk, we both agreed that it was a great thing that the main building, the only one on campus made with natural stones, was going to continue to be utilized.  In fact, the building and museum were dedicated in 1937 by Governor Pat Neff (who you'll remember, set up the initial parks in what would be come the Texas State Park System).

There were a number of interesting and interactive displays taking you thru the region from one era to another (starting with the dinosaur fossils found in the Big Bend region - including a pterodactyl!) 

"According to Indian legend, when the Great Creator made the earth and finished placing the stars in the sky, the birds in the air, and the fish in the sea, there was a large pile of rejected stony material left over. Finished with His job, He threw this into on heap and made the Big Bend." 

It was interesting to see the mock wall of the Tall Rock Shelter Pictographs as RDB and I have plans on the way home from this trip to stop at Seminole Canyon State Park and take a guided tour of another set of pictographs there.

I couldn't help but be impressed by the interior ceiling and roof supports of the building - between the rough hewn rocks on the outside and the curved wooden ceiling inside, the museum reminded me of some of the buildings on my old college campus.

We had finished walking around the small exhibits and were looking around the gift shop when we overheard the two volunteer staff talking about the McDonald Observatory closing because of the continuing snowy weather and that they may be closing down the road back north to Fort Davis.  We both looked at each other with a silent "uh-oh" and high-tailed it back to the truck to drive the 20-ish miles up to the campground.

I checked my email while we still had service, and sure enough, the reservation we had for a Star Party at the Observatory Friday night had in fact been canceled. Boo. But it was an outdoor event after dark and *checks weather again* yeah, that would have been realllly chill with a possible 8-15 more inches of snow!

Once back in the campground (phew!) we took a small detour over to the Indian Lodge and Black Bear Restaurant, just to check it out. We joked about how we weren't really roughing it (we aren't y'all, we have hard walls, a roof, and HEATERS) and the staff mentioned that we were definitely doing better than those in the lodge - they have no hot water this week!

We nestled in for the rest of the afternoon, cooking a really great SunBasket meal for a late lunch, and watching a number of Mel Brooks movies (thanks 3-in-1 DVD collections!).  Not only do we not have cell reception out here, we're also not picking up a strong signal for wifi, and even the local TV channels are coming in fuzzy.  All perfectly fine, seeing that we want to be outside this weekend!  Our fingers were crossed that we’d get to do some hiking on Saturday. 

So, that’s what “8-15 inches” of snow accumulation looks like in the early morning hours. Ha! I’ll be honest, as cool as it would’ve been to see that that level of snow, I’m actually glad it didn’t happen - we had LOTS to do on Saturday!  RDB said it best: we spent the morning looking at our feet, and spent the evening staring at the stars.  

The better part of the morning we were hiking the trails in the State Park.  I took so many pictures (and this post is getting long enough as it is!) that I've written up a separate post just about that here.  Our step count for the day was well over 14k!

When the Star Party at the Observatory canceled on Friday night because of the snow, I checked online to see if there were any tickets left for Saturday night, but it was showing sold out.  RDB and I went over to the Observatory in the afternoon anyway, general admission was under $10 for the both of us, and we could at least check out the exhibits.  After typing up the adventures we had there I realized that this post is getting _even longer_, so I moved that over to a separate post here. 

Sunday morning we woke up tired. All due respect to those who get up early, stay up late, and hike mountains somewhere in between, but we could tell by midday that we really pushed on Saturday to take it all in.  Good news was that there wasn't much on the agenda for the day.

We traveled into Marfa, the seat of Presido County, and home to the phenomenon of the Marfa Lights.  We could have come down this weekend to possibly see the mystery lights but rearranging the Star Party knocked that out of possibility.  The city has a nice rest stop/viewing area created for it, and you can tell the town was buzzing with activity, likely because the unsolved mystery attracts people to the area. 

One last neat stop on the way back to the park to do our Park-n-Drive video, we had seen this random tree curved over almost creating a bridge at a roadside picnic spot each time we drove into and out of the park.  When we stopped off to get a few pictures, we were treated to an even cooler experience with the rocks jutting out and creating a sort of slot canyon hidden right there beside the road. 

Of course, I'm assuming it's the local teenagers who take advantage of the rock walls to scribe their names, hopes, and dreams. (Interesting: when our ancestors wrote on the rocks, we call it pictographs and a historical site; when our young folks do it, we call it graffiti and damaging natural sites.)

As JBY would say: #facts

Hi Mom! <3

We took our time to pack up and make the drive further south to our next destination - the Big Bend State and National Parks - for the rest of the week. In part because we were watching the weather for the wind to settle down, but also because we were pretty beat.  When you pick the most challenging of the hiking trails on the map for your first adventure, rest assured that you will pay for it later!

We fueled up in Marfa and had a nearly full tank as we started the drive of just over 100 miles from Fort Davis down to Terlingua.  Once again, be sure you have a full tank of gas before heading into the desert as there is nothing except beautiful barren vistas between the two towns. 

Three days in the beautiful Davis Mountains felt like the tip of the iceberg (seriously, it was that chilly!) in this wonderful park.  RDB and I had waited years for this weekend to happen, and now I'm wishing we had done this sooner.  I could see us coming back again in Joy for a long weekend trip, staying at the Lodge, and loving every minute of it.

We were at Davis Mountains State Park, Site #59 (and technically Site #58, too.  When booking online they both appeared to be short (we need ~60 feet for the truck and camper, unhooked) so I booked them both.  We could have made #59 alone work, but honestly? It was really nice to not have any neighbors blocking the natural view this weekend.)  It's a 30am/W site, and though there are full hook-ups in the park, they were booked way quicker than when I got online to get our reservation. No surprise there, as I'm sure the snowbirds who know of this gem in the desert are grabbing those spots as quickly as they come available.