The Milky Way, a perfect opportunity or a major waste of time?
It's almost Milky Way time and I decided I needed to find out if I could find, and see the Milky Way before I went to all the trouble of getting everything ready to go outside and take some pictures of it, since taking a picture of the Milky Way requires a lot more planning than just sticking my camera out the door and taking a snapshot of the sunrise. So last night I set my phone’s alarm clock to 3 AM to spend a few minutes outside in the cold to see where the Milky Way would be.
I did wake up at 3 AM, and I managed to drag myself out of bed, and it was definitely 45° outside, but I'm not 100% sure that I saw the elusive Milky Way. I know from experience that it takes a while for your eyes to adjust to the dark, sometimes as long as half an hour. I also knew that my night vision is very poor compared to what it used to be, which is one of several reasons I don't drive at night. Which means that, between my failing night vision and my need for a cataract operation, stars aren’t that easy to see anymore
But I did see something that seemed brighter than normal in the southeastern sky, where the Milky Way was supposed to be, according to the Internet. It just so happened that the camper’s door faces southeast, so I wouldn't have to go anywhere. And it looks like if I don't procrastinate on this opportunity, I might get a picture of the Milky Way.
It probably won't be a very good picture because the camper door faces miles and miles of open fields, in the opposite direction from the giant boulders. Technically, either I or the Milky Way is on the wrong side of the City of Rocks to get what would be a really Interesting picture, but I have absolutely no desire to hoof it up the hill at 3 o’clock in the morning to get into the boulders.
theboondork
The hookup campsites. Things have changed at the City of Rocks. Half of the hookup sites are now first-come, first-served, and the other half are reservation-only. With my annual camping pass, the first-come, first-served hookup sites are still free for me to stay at, but electricity will cost $15 a day instead of $4 a day, and paying for electricity is mandatory if it’s available at the site.
The Ocotillos [ O -ka- t -yo ] are just starting to bloom. The blooms are on the upper tip of the plant.
Close-up of the Ocotillo buds. Soon, this will be a bunch of blossoms packed together
There are small city of rocks type boulders all around the area, several of which you can hike to.
This information is posted at every campsite. A developed site is a site with a picnic table, and a site without a picnic table is a primitive site. ACP means Annual Camping Permit, which today costs $600 a year. And Lord help you if you have more than one vehicle; you might as well stay at a motel.