Out of Our Rut: March 2018

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Last year, when we were driving from Tucson to Ajo, we had passed signs for Kitt Peak National Observatory. We didn't have the time to stop but made a mental note for some future visit. As we checked out the travel literature we had for the Tucson area, we saw the info about Kitt Peak and remembered we wanted a chance to check it out (so much for our mental notes!). They have a variety of tours and programs to cover the casual observer to the advanced astronomer. Some of the evening programs only occur around the time of a new moon but of course those programs were fully booked for the time we are in the area. We settled on the monthly VIP Tour. It is a 5 hour program one Saturday each month and it had openings during our stay here.

Camping on the southwest side of Tucson makes this an easy drive of 45 miles with very little traffic. Even from this far away, it is possible to see the one telescope tower perched on the mountain. Kitt Peak is just under 6900 feet in elevation compared to the 2500 feet where we are camped. The last 10 miles of the drive is where the climbing really begins. With each twist and turn in the road, you get a new glimpse of what awaits us. What I hadn't realized is just how large this place is. There are 25 optical telescopes and a couple of radio telescopes located here. When we got here, we checked to see if there had been any cancellations for the night event. Nope, but as it turned out, the clouds rolled in so the evening event would be called off.

We Can See the Observatory on Way Up

There Are Many of Them

At the Top

Nice Mural at Visitor Center

Our tour guide was very knowledgeable about Kitt Peak and astronomy in general. Our group was about 10 or 12 people. Small enough that we could all see and hear as we moved from place to place. The tour had a nice pace to it. We would be told about some aspect of the history, construction or uses of the various telescopes, then move on to a new location that provided a new view allowing a lead in to some other story. Our first actual telescope to see was the 4 meter Mayall. It is the prominent one here. Built on a pedestal over 100 feet tall with the whole structure being 18 stories tall. It is the one that can easily be seen from Tucson. This one is generally the highlight of this tour, but just a couple weeks earlier, it was taken offline for a 15 month upgrade program. The modifications will all them to do some very high tech astronomy in the future, but it does mean that some of the facility is off limits while the work is being done. We do get to go in the building and see the impressive size of the telescope.

4 Meter Concrete Sample of Mirror Used During Construction

Cool Plasma Globe

The Mayall Towers Above

More Telescopes

And Even More Telescopes

The 4 Meter Mayall Up Close

Once we get back to the visitor center, we are given a 30 minute lunch break before we reconvene for the afternoon portion of the tour. Our first stop after lunch is the WIYN Observatory. Owned by the consortium of several universities (Wisconsin, Indiana & Yale) and a national organization, its name is simply the letters combined. We are allowed to enter thru the control room which while interesting, didn't seem to have the preconceived number of controls I was expecting. The telescope itself has a 3.5 meter diameter mirror which is covered when not in use. The secondary mirror is visible in the middle of the elaborate tubular structure holding it in place. The backside of the mirror has a very complicated looking adaptive control system with 66 actuators to account for mirror distortions when the telescope is repositioned to a different target in space.

Another Lesson on Our Way to WIYN Telescope

Mayall and Other Telescopes

Control Room at WIYN

The 3.5 Meter WIYN Telescope

Close Up View of Secondary Mirror

Adaptive Actuators on Backside of Mirror

Our next stop would have been the huge McMath-Pierce solar telescope but it was recently defunded by the government since there is a newer and better one elsewhere. Even though our tour guide wants to just show us the control room in it, the facility no longer pays for insurance to cover visitors like us.

Decommissioned Solar Telescope

Our last stop is the 2.1 meter telescope. It was built in the early 1960's and is now run by Caltech. They are using it as a test platform for a new system called Robo-AO. The hope is the new technology using adaptive optics will allow this telescope to produce clearer images than it has previously. We were permitted into both the telescope area as well as the control room. The latter included a mixture of old and new controls that seemed to be a strange juxtaposition. As we finished up the tour, we were greeted with light sprinkles. This was a fun day trip and well worth the $49 per person to get so much info and see such fascinating equipment. We may need to plan on one of the night visits, maybe even the special overnight program when we make it back to Tucson.

The 2.1 Meter Telescope

Another View of 2.1 Meter

2.1 Meter Control Room

Old Looking Controls

A couple days later, we headed to the east side of town to Sabino Canyon. I'm not sure how we missed this place during last year's stops. Even though we came on a Monday morning, the place was packed. Fortunately our National Park pass works for this place, and the person at the entrance station believed there was an open spot in the main parking lot otherwise we would need to go to the overflow lot a few blocks away. This parking lot holds around 300 cars, so I'm not talking just a few people visiting. We did find a spot and headed to the information station to determine what the water level was on our intended hike along Bear Canyon Trail. The water is flowing but as long as we can rock hop, we shouldn't need our water shoes.

The hike is an out and back route with a distance of 8 miles. They do have a shuttle that takes people out one of the park roads which eliminates just over a mile or so each way. We figure we could splurge and spend the $4 each. Since the shuttle only runs hourly, our timing was pretty good and didn't need to wait more than 10 minutes for the it to leave. Our goal is a place called 7 Falls. I don't think we will have much trouble finding it given the number of people heading out that way. I still find it interesting when we get to a popular hiking spot. We come prepared for an all day hike with our Camelbacks, lunch, hiking sticks and proper hiking boots. Now, I didn't see anybody with flip-flops or Crocs, but quite a few of the people had simple sneakers! To each his own.

Actual Track from Bear Canyon Hike

Starting Point at Shuttle Stop

Creek Crossing

The trail heads up into the canyon along the creek. There are a handful of water crossings, but in all cases there are nicely spaced rocks that make for pretty easy, dry footed crossing. Occasionally there would be a slow moving group ahead of us, but for the most part it was quite a nice hike with lots of nice views of the canyon. At one point we come upon a view and we know we are close to our goal. There are well over one hundred people lounging around a series of pools. As we get a bit closer, we can see a series of waterfalls feeding the pools. Seven, based on the name, although I only counted six. The last bit of the trail down to the falls area is the most challenging portion of the hike but we made it without issue.

Nice to Actually See Flowing Water in Southern Arizona

Waiting for Group Ahead of Us to Cross

Pretty View Up Canyon

Tall Hill on Opposite Side of Canyon

Starting to See People and 7 Falls

Loads of People Enjoying the Day

Water Falls

We found a slightly shaded spot under some real trees that had not leafed out yet and plopped down to enjoy the lunch we brought. A squirrel and a chipmunk both thought our food looked tasty, but we were in no mood to share. They moved onto another victim but in this case it was the open backpack of somebody who had gone to check out the pool. The squirrel almost looked like he was shopping as he sniffed around the pack. He was chased off empty handed. After eating, we scrambled up a steeper rock section to make our way to the other pool. From other people's reactions, the water must have been cold, but not too bad as some people were sitting in the water in their bathing suits. Okay, maybe we weren't as prepared as we thought. We forgot to bring our suits and Chris had read a sign back at the entrance area listing what was NOT permitted and public nudity was top on the list so that wasn't an option either!

We eventually headed out of this scenic and peaceful place and started the hike back. It was fairly easy going on the way back. By the time we got to the shuttle pick up spot, we decided to skip it and do a detour toward Sabino Dam to look for a geocache. The trail we picked got us within 150 feet, but it was up a steep hill from our location. I headed up and told Chris to chill. It wasn't a bad climb but after finding the cache, I realized there was another trail on the ridge above the way we came in. I called Chris and told her to follow her trail out, I would follow mine and hopefully we will cross paths. We did and then headed the rest of the way to the visitor area. We had skipped the gift shop and other things here since we had caught the shuttle so quickly upon our arrival. We wandered around a bit then headed back since it was a long but fun 8+ mile day.

Peaceful Setting for a Snack

Out of Canyon

Another Nice Afternoon View

There was an RV show at the fairgrounds was basically just one of the large local dealers bringing out a couple hundred rigs from travel trailers to fifth wheels and all sizes of motorized rigs. We spent part of a morning wandering thru various rigs. Having lived full time in one for nearly two years now, we have a good sense about what would and wouldn't work well. Of course not all of the people buying these will live in them full time. We met another couple that were checking out the same rig. We got to talking with them and found they are from Wisconsin and are currently wintering in Arizona. We were trying to convince them to sell everything and try full time RV living. They already have a rig that they live in for 4 or 5 months of the year. There were a few 45 foot rigs that had some nice features but we came away from the show not really seeing anything we felt we must switch to.

We have a stretch of a week or so where first Chris comes down with a bad cough and cold, and eventually I succumb as well. It's never much fun being sick, but it probably is a bit worse since there were more things to see and do in the area but we didn't have the energy to attempt them. We do take advantage of this low energy time to get a few things taken care of on the Jeep. While having the oil changed, I asked about what deals they might have on tires. We have 54K miles driven and 31K miles being towed behind the motorhome. 85K miles is a lot for set of tires and while they have a bit of tread left, it would be wise to replace them before we hit areas with rain. They had a buy 3, get one for a buck deal. So we have the tires ordered and go back a few days later to have them installed. I'll be very pleased if I get that many miles on this set as well.

What is nice about the area we are staying, is that there are so many trails for hiking or biking. All along Kinney Road are dozens of pullouts, big enough for a few cars and all with some sort of trail heading out from them. We have come up with half a dozen morning hikes in the 2 to 5 mile range that have a geocache or two along some trail we may not have taken otherwise. Some of the plants are starting to bloom providing burst of colors along the way. One of the hikes brought us to an old mining spot. Nothing special about the mine remnants but there was a massive saguaro Cactus with 29 arms! On one of the hike, we did find what looked to be an actual trail up the backside of Cat Mountain - the climb we had failed a week or so ago. Not sure we will fit it in, but it's good to know for our next stay here.