Utah Highway 143, East of Cedar Breaks

Hiked September 22, 2024. Blast from the past. I somehow managed not to post these last year.

This would have been during the 2024 Southwest Astronomy Festival. After a night of astronmy at Cedar Breaks and before the drive down to La Verkin and a night of astronomy at Canyon Community Center, in Springdale, I headed down UT-143, east of Cedar Breaks. Been this way before. It often has good early fall color. This day was no exception.

When I'm looking for fall color, it's a lot of stopping and walking along roads. I probably only made it about six miles down 143. Lots of good color, so I pulled over on the shoulder and along dirt roads several times. I also walked a mile or so up the Hancock Peak trail, then back. Saw the trailhead on the way out, and hit that on the way back. I could see that the trail led to a peak, and passed through aspen, and thought it might be a nice view. Not enough time to make it to the peak, though, so I just went until I got immersed in golden aspen leaves.

That's Hancock Peak, to the left. First had to cross a couple of tiny streams, which you see, below. The shots above were further along the trail.

Despite their tiny size, these creeks apparently house a reintroduced Bonneville Cutthroat trout population. Saw a sign to that effect at the trailhead.

I probably mentioned at some point that I caught Bonneville cutthroat out of Leeds Creek (west of St. George), a really long time ago. Whiter and not as "cut" as other cutthroat trout I've seen, but a relic of previous ice ages, when huge inland lakes and seas dominated the Basin and Range.

Prior to the Hancock Peak trail, I briefly drove along a dirt Forest Service Road, wandered around there through meadows and admired the scenery, and stopped a few times on the shoulder, to do the same. All told, I'm sure I covered my three mile minimum.

Great fall weather for wandering: Sunny, clear, a little cool in temperature, but perfect to enjoy the foliage, provided you're dressed for it.

Somewhat bummed I didn't manage a fall foliage trip this fall. Definitely going to try harder, next year. Not sure if Utah or California. The Southwest Astronomy Festival is going to be in September, again. But, depending on the weather, that may be too early for good foliage. It was too early in 2025, for example. So going for that doesn't guarantee a foliage trip.

One of my astronomy friends is talking about renting the a group campground in Cedar Flat, in the White Mountains, in September. Of course, that is also likely too early for fall foliage. It's more of an astronomy trip. Not sure if any foliage will be within an easy day trip from there.

As of today, I have photos uploaded from a hike up Northshore Summit. I thought I posted that earlier, too. And I have a short hike Monrovia Falls. Somewhere, I also have photos for a Ryan Mountain and a Lost Horse Mine hike, possibly also from last year. I'm also trying to up my hiking frequency, again. So lots of backlog to post, which will hopefully keep building.

Charlie Turner Trail, Griffith Park, LA, CA

Hiked Sunday, December 7, 2025. Now that we're approaching the holidays, I was anticipating gridlock traffic heading up to Griffith Observatory, so I figured I'd plan on an early arrival and hike, before my shift. I ended up leaving home later than I wanted, but the expected traffic did not materialize. It was also empty on Tuesday, December 6. Can't say for how long this lull in visitation will last.

This is probably my most walked trail over the past ten years, but I haven't walked it that frequently, recently. Policy changes let us start our telescope shifts earlier than before, so now, if I get here early from my day job, I can just log in and start my shift earlier. We officially have telescopes on the front sidewalks from 7pm until 9:30pm, but, especially in the winter, when it gets dark early, there's no reason why you can't start telescope observing at 5:30pm or 6pm, instead.

One thing that has changed since the last time I hiked here is they have gated off what used to be an official trail that avoids the long switchback that is the Charlie Turner trail. It knocks at least ten to fifteen minutes off the descent time, which was good, if I wanted to hike up to Mount Hollywood and back, but was short on time. Going the long way, it's now pretty close to an hour (about 3.5 miles) roundtrip. But because of my early arrival, I did have time to finish that hike.

I got my start somewhat before sunset, and had som enice alpenglow on the San Gabriel Mountains on the way up. Not a lot in the way of flowers this time of year, though.

Got my nice workout in -- hiking here is different from just walking in town, because there's a climb involved, which works the cardio and the leg muscles. I really need to do this more often.

After coming back down, I changed my shift and worked my shift. But the moon picture down below was actually from Friday, December 5, 2025, my previous shift. That was the night of a confluence of events: A roughly full moon near a perigee approach, and near the period of major lunar standsill.

Major lunar standstill is when the moon rises or sets unusually far to the north or south, because an extreme point in its orbital wobble causes it to rise or set about five degrees further north or south than it normally would.

A full moon near the winter solstice would mean the moon would already be rising and setting unusually far to the north, and the extra five degrees makes it even more extreme. In this case, it rises near Mount Wilson, as seen from Griffith Observatory, rather than farther east, like near Mount San Antonio, or more or less due east, as during the equinoxes. Rising over the distant mountains means it's a little higher in the atmosphere as it becomes visible, and the seeing that night was exceptionally still, so, even rising, the moon showed some decent detail. And, being a little closer than average to earth in its eliptical orbit, it appeared a little larger than normal.

Oak Glen Preserve, Yucaipa, CA

Hiked November 24, 2025. Hit this on my return drive from Sky's the Limit; there was a night sky event there that got rescheduled to Sunday, November 23.

Oak Glen Preserve used to be a pretty regular stop for me on the drive back, as a combination hike/place to get a great apple pie. However, recently, I've been in a hurry to get back from the Joshua Tree area, or just not motivated to hike. But with the Thanksgiving dinner coming up, I had a compelling excuse to stop here for the hiking and the pie.

I arrived some time before 10am; Got there later than expected, because Waze sent me up Oak Glen from the east, ignoring road construction that got me stuck in a standstill for at least fifteen minutes. There was a several mile stretch of one lane, active construction, with a flagman.

Once there, I first hiked around the ponds, northwest of the trailhead. Both ponds were full of water, with waterfowl enjoying the weather. I then headed down south among the oaks, then up to Preservation Point, then back up through Founder's Park. All told, it's somewhere abou 3 1/2 miles. I forgot to turn my Alltrails recording off before driving home, so I don't have the specific hike distance or altitude climb.

Lots of water around, given the recent rain and snow. But the weather overall has been pretty warm, as well, so there was not a dramatic burst of fall foliage. Even in late November, leaves still hung on, but were more brown the golden or rust colored.

Along the walk, someone asked me where they could see red leaves of maple. I told him they weren't native, so you'd have to check in town. There may be some maples around the parking lot, too. Red leaves, anyway, though I didn't take a closer look. I also saw some reds around the buildings and parking lot for Riley's Farm (not to be confused with Riley's Los Rios Rancho), which I could see once I started climbing towards Preservation Point. Riley's Farm is across the road, at the southern end of Oak Glen Preserve, before you get back to Founder's Park. There's seasonal creek that runs between Oak Glen Preserve and Oak Glen Road. Riley's is across the road, there.

I did see one red leafed tree, earlier, along the smaller creek that runs below the ponds. This small creek eventually runs (though, perhaps, under ground) into the creek that parallels Oak Glen Road. Not sure what kind of tree, but definitely not a maple.

It was a little hazy this day, but it's still a nice view from Preservation Point. Mount San Jacinto is far off to the east. The San Bernardino Mountains are to your north. The Inland Empire is to your south. I finally checked a map and learned that the big reservoir with a pointing island in the middle is Lake Perris. Several other reservoirs are also visible from way up there.

Closer to home is the Oak Glen orchard, with lots of apple trees lined up, and the "temporary" building that is the shop also visible from up top.

Not a lot of color, as noted earlier. Some yellows, and some yellow-fringed oak leaves. That was about it.

It must have gotten cold, overnight, because the floating dock and the wooden walkway that passes through the stinging nettle were both closed, presumably due to safety considerations of slipping on ice-covered wood. Not sure if they opened, later.

Meanwhile, even at the start of my hike, I was fine in shorts and a hoodie.

It's a hike I've done before, but I enjoy it, because there's a pretty steep (but not super-long) climb up to Preservation point, and a shorter and less steep climb back up to Founders Park. It's also at moderate altitude of 4500 - 4800 feet above sea level, so it's better for my leg muscles and aerobic capacity than just walking around town. A little far as a destination, but a great stop on the way back from Joshua Tree, with year-round interest.

First hike it quite a while. Felt good to get outside, and the slightly-tired legs I had the next day felt even better. Always hoping to get a little more hiking in, but we'll see. Currently, my America the Beautiful pass is expired. I'm trying to make it to my birthday, later this month, when I'll qualify for a lifetime Golden Age passport. It's only eighty bucks, and in the big scheme of things, it's not much, but I don't want to spend money I don't have to.

Comet Lemmon, C/2025 A6, Sky's the Limit, November 1, 2025

There was another "NASA Night" at Sky's the Limit, in Twentynine Palms. Numerous things going on in my life, so I could only afford the evening. Left for STL around 2pm, and got there around 5pm. Plenty of time to set up and be ready for dark.

The talk was scheduled for 5:30pm to 7:30pm, so we could show the waxing gibbous moon before the talk, then, I hoped, show Comet Lemmon after the talk.

As it turned out, from where my telescope was set up, I lost Comet Lemmon behind a structure pretty early after 7:30pm. My photographing rig, which I set up south of the telescope pad, had a slightly longer view. Took about a dozen shots before it dipped below the horizon, so at least I could show visitors that, if they arrived after the direct view was lost.

Lemmon is still a very photogenic comet, and not a bad telescopic view, even with the large moon on Saturday.

My photo setup is an 80mm f/7 refractor, with a focal reducer, yielding a focal length of 448mm, and a focal ratio of f/5.6. Exposure of the top shot was 30 seconds and ISO 1000; second shot was 20 seconds at ISO 1600. Nikon D780, downloaded to my phone at 2mp size, and cropped to reduce visible vignetting.

Comet Lemmon is slowly moving south and west, so each day, it's setting earlier and is lower in the sky at any given evening hour as seen in the northern hemisphere. Should still be viewable next weekend, as it gets to perihelion (closest to the sun), but farther from earth. The weekend after that will be more iffy, as it gets both dimmer, farther from us, and lower and further south. After that, you'd have to be viewing further south, say around 20-degrees north latitude, to have a shot at it, for another week. Then, it's gone for another 1100 years or so.

Comets SWAN and Lemmon

With both Comet SWAN (2025 R2) and Lemmon (2025 A6) approaching perigee (closest approach to earth), I headed out once more to semi-dark skies on October 18, again setting up at the Ryan Mountain trailhead. Traffic heading up on CA-62 was heavy, and I feared a social media-induced frenzy. Fortunately, that did not arise.

The lot was about 1/2 full when I arrived, about fifteen minutes before sunset, but largely emptied out over the next 50 minutes. There were a few late arrivals, however. One group with a few cars seems to have hiked Ryan Mountain well after dark, while the other set up lawn chairs and looked for meteors. But both were groups were very responsible with their light control, and did not affect my imaging.

Lemmon was setting first, so I started there. The first shot was actually later in the night, with a 105mm f/2.8 lens on my Nikon D3500 (crop sensor dslr). Ten second exposure, ISO 800. Shows you that Lemmon was visible and pretty apparent as a comet through binoculars. You can also see a heck of a lot of satellite trails around the object, which really showed up in my closer shots.

The closer shots were using (with the focal reducer) an 80mm f/5.6 telescope and my Nikon D780 camera body. ISO 3200, 30 second exposure. Cropped, to reduce visible vignetting. Nice tail, some variation within the tail.

By contrast, SWAN was not nearly as apparent in binoculars, and took me much longer to find in my imaging rig. Higher surface brightness, but not much of a tail, so pretty stellar in binoculars. Same photo specs as the SWAN shots.

Next weekend is the Night Sky Festival. Despite the federal government shutdown, the talks and telescope aspects are still going forward. If I can get there early enough (not a given), I may try some more photography on Friday. If not, might try to manage some shots on Saturday, before, during, or after the formal outreach at Sky's the Limit.

Comet SWAN 2025 R2

On October 11 and 12, 2025, I drove up to the Northshore Summit trailhead, in Lake Mead NRA, NV, to try to photograph Comet SWAN 2025 R2. October 11 was mostly clouded out, though I did get rather impressionist-looking shots. But October 12 was clear, so I got a much better view.

From this trailhead, the comet was over Henderson, Boulder City, and the southwestern part of the Las Vegas Valley, so the sky was not super dark, even after astronomical twilight. But definitely better without the clouds than with the clouds!

The first shot was with my 80mm refractor. Just a trace of a tail. The second shot was with an 85mm lens on a crop dslr. The bright star near the center is about mag 2.4; the one near the bottom left is about 3.2. So, photographically, SWAN looks somewhere in the middle, distinctly non-steller, and green. Each day for the next week or so, it'll be a bit closer to earth and farther from the setting sun. View should keep improving, against a darker sky.

At the same time, Comet Lemmon 2025 A6 is getting higher in the northwest sky after sunset. By this weekend, it should also be against a moderately dark sky before it sets, so there should be two photographable comets, soon.

After I figured I got as good as I was going to get on SWAN on Sunday, I took a few quick shots of M8 and M20 (Lagoon and Trifid Nebulas, respectively). Obviously, both bigger and more obvious than SWAN at the time.

On Friday (October 17), SWAN will be drifting near the the Eagle and Swan Nebulas. Unfortunatley, I won't be free that night day. But perhaps some wide angle stuff the next night might still be fun.

Flowers in Joshua Tree Still Blooming, Sept 28, 2025

I was back in Joshua Tree National Park on Sunday, September 28. Well, I was there on the evening of the 27th, as well, but mostly after dark, for astrophotography. Came back the next morning, for a better look at the flowers. The additional week has allowed the bloom to spread; while, last week, there was little on Park Blvd, this week had some pretty thick blooms west of the Pinto Wye.

I also had a bit of time to walk, so I parked at the Twin Tanks / Arch Rock trailhead, and took the California Riding and Hiking trail east and north, to Belle Campground. That's where I saw the best flowers, last week.

I also went briefly west on the California Riding and Hiking Trail from Twin Tanks. Good bloom that way, too. But less potential feature objects, like rock formations of Joshua tree, appeared that way, so I didn't go far.

After my brief hike (3.5 miles roundtrip), I drove out via Park Blvd and the west entrance. Some relatively thick patches of chinchweed near the Wye, ane scattered patches further west.

The previous night, I was at Ryan Mountain trailhead, trying to photograph Comet SWAN (2025R2). But I got there later than I wanted, and there were clouds along the western horizon. Took many photos, but no sign of a comet.

After I failed, I took some random shots, just because I was already out there. Took a quick shot of M51 (Whirlpool galaxy), as the clouds encroached. Wasn't well-centered, but by the time I could move it, the clouds completely covered it.

Also took some shots of M31. Not great, but just something to do, given I was already out there.

I had originally intended to go back early the next morning, to look for Comet Lemmon (2025A6). But my failure the night before discouraged and demotivated me, so I didn't get up early. In fact, because it was higher and rising higher towards dawn, the chances would have been better. I have been getting relatively more photos of Lemmon on my newsfeed than I have of SWAN. But I didn't feel it in the morning, and decided I'd just sleep in later, then look for flowers the next morning, which I did.