This has been a somewhat regular destination for me, although I don't think I've been there for a few years. Got there early, with time for a little walking before sunset. Probably only did two or 2 1/2 miles, though.
Took plenty of shots. Chatted with an LASD sergeant, for a bit. He was also there enjoying the view. I was just trying to make sure I wasn't going to get locked in there. The sign out front says the park gates are locked at 6pm. About twenty minutes before that, a truck came rolling around the road, announcing "final call" for the gate being locked.
I took my last shot around 5:48pm, then headed to my car, and drove slowly down the road, reaching the gate with a few minutes to spare.
After I got home, I saw a crescent moon, and wanted to try out one of my telescopes, an Orion XT8 Dobsonian that my wife found at a thrift store a number of years ago. It was getting hard to track objects with it, because it was so sticky when trying to push the tube in any direction. So I bought some new teflon bearings, which I installed over the weekend. The good news is that it's a lot smoother, now, and easier to fine tune the pointing. The bad news is, it's so slippery that it slides up or down in altitude, depending on how heavy the eyepiece I am using. I'm going to have to buy some new magnetic weights to keep the tube balanced.
