Saturday, September 26, 2015

Night Walks

The Curacanti Colorado State Park is located around Blue Mesa Reservoir, more or less west of Gunnison, Colorado.

One of the many things they offer visitors is the chance to explore the night sky in an area pretty much devoid of any light pollution caused by population centers. They do this with a ranger guided hike into a remote area of the park starting at twilight.

These night hikes happen every two weeks on Saturday nights in the season and correspond to dark nights with no moon and nights with the moon out.

You meet at 7:30 PM at the Dillon Pinnacles near mile marker 138 on Colorado Highway 50. You are provided with a flashlight with a red lens to preserve your night vision and then begin a 2.5 mile round trip hike starting at twilight. The Dillon Pinnacles are a geological highlight and are most unusual.

The intent is to experience the park at night and enjoy an explanation of the stars and constellations. It was a wonderful experience.

A very knowledgeable Ranger Derek pointed out various stars and constellations using a green laser which is a very effective tool for 'show and tell'

I've put in a link to a web site from which you can obtain star charts for a given month.











Star Chart for September2015

1 comment:

  1. So you and Mom did this hike? Or do you plan to do it in the future? Sounds like a lot of fun. Was there any wildlife out at dusk?

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