Prewitt Ridge, TAC history

[ngc1...@gmail.com]

Here's a fresh subject line. Plus TACos have a longish history at that one ridge.

Jeff Blanchard, a seriously good observer, discovered the place. Jeff's an old surfer, and he swore us to secrecy as to even the name of the spot, those few with whom he shared it.

I went up there with Jeff in September '99, then in May '01, five of us went. That '01 trip was with Jon Ruyle, Albert Highe and James Turley. In '99 we went midweek and had the ridge to ourselves. 

In '01 it was on a weekend, I got there the 2nd night and the guys were excited to tell me about the ravers on the next hill, under trees. Yep, lights, boom boom boom naked dancing. Those ravers were all gone the very next morning, go figure where they went. When I got there, Jeff, Albert, James and I shared the ridge with some obnos from Orion Telescope who were way into their booze and stimulants.

So 20 years ago, in spite of firm secrecy within the larger TAC group, the place was overrun. I haven't been all that motivated to go back since.

Tallman wrote an excellent description, including - "I found that it's easy to lose your bearings on the unmarked road splits, as sometimes it's hard to know where the "main" road is. There wasn't really any USFS signage the couple times I was up there, so it's good to have decent trail maps ..."

It's off the grid, GPS will not get you there reliably, you need a Forest Service map, as Doug says.

Off the paved road, it's 8 miles down a single-lane crummy dirt road. Cliff on one side and precipice on the other. We only referred to it elliptically for years as Cone Peak, as it's near there on the map. Pierce will remember the allusion, back when he was riding his motorcycle around up there.

Dry camping, no water anywhere near. You dig your own holes. With that and the chancy road, Blanchard and I both said more than once we wouldn't want to entice city boys to go there. Only good in spring and fall. Way too hot in the summer, and windy. You'd have to watch wind forecasts for the south of Big Sur, because it's miserable there when the wind is up.

Of course it's dark. Just don't be in a hurry to get all romantic over the spot. And note that Tallman said "we" when talking about being there.

[Al Smith]

Great commentary. I have been wandering the mountains there since the late 1980s, first with a VW bus that could go

anywhere then with my small RV towing the telescope trailer. Chew's Ridge was popular in the summer with 

stargazers back in the early 1990s before the gates were installed. It was always considered the gold standard for

darkness and seeing back then, but population growth has lit up the skies more. I've been there probably 10+ times

WHEN the road was in good shape. But finally I decided that the trip was too hard on the trailer when any

ruts were present. It was always dry during these trips and the road recently graded.

Prewitt Ridge is now much darker and I have even seen SQM of 21.9. Like the

others, the road can be a bit treacherous. The very steep portion is paved and helps going and coming. But the

turn off to Prewitt ridge has a steep section with deep loose dirt in the summer after being traverse my numerous

vehicles. I never found it crowded there midweek. One time I met an imager there and started descending the

steep but short section, and knew I was in trouble with especially deep dirt. Fortunately I knew he had a 4WD.

When I departed, I was able to drive the RV up the dirt, and he pulled the trailer up and over the dirt. Now I avoid

Prewitt Ridge for my own good. I do have a working Garmin Insight satellite messenger, but have never used for help.

I do not try any of these areas in the rainy season but settle on Laguna or others in that area, and always midweek.

All of us in Santa Cruz long for the nights at Bonny Doon Airport before it was bought and closed to the stargazers.

It was not dark but it sure was convenient.  So the search goes on for a new site.....

Al

[Al Smith]

Image of trailer being pulled up the steep dirt area

[Akarsh Simha]

So ignoring for a moment, the Dolan Fire closures -- when we say that "Prewitt Ridge" is closed, does it mean that:

(a) Developed campgrounds are shut down

(b) Dispersed camping is also shut down (i.e. "No camping" signage)

(c) Access (including day use) is shut down

Regards

Akarsh

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[Akarsh Simha]

On Wed, Feb 24, 2021 at 4:40 PM Akarsh Simha <akars...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Wed, Feb 24, 2021 at 12:57 AM ngc1...@gmail.com <ngc1...@gmail.com> wrote:

Here's a fresh subject line. Plus TACos have a longish history at that one ridge.

Jeff Blanchard, a seriously good observer, discovered the place. Jeff's an old surfer, and he swore us to secrecy as to even the name of the spot, those few with whom he shared it.

I went up there with Jeff in September '99, then in May '01, five of us went. That '01 trip was with Jon Ruyle, Albert Highe and James Turley. In '99 we went midweek and had the ridge to ourselves. 

In '01 it was on a weekend, I got there the 2nd night and the guys were excited to tell me about the ravers on the next hill, under trees. Yep, lights, boom boom boom naked dancing. Those ravers were all gone the very next morning, go figure where they went. When I got there, Jeff, Albert, James and I shared the ridge with some obnos from Orion Telescope who were way into their booze and stimulants.

So 20 years ago, in spite of firm secrecy within the larger TAC group, the place was overrun. I haven't been all that motivated to go back since.

Tallman wrote an excellent description, including - "I found that it's easy to lose your bearings on the unmarked road splits, as sometimes it's hard to know where the "main" road is. There wasn't really any USFS signage the couple times I was up there, so it's good to have decent trail maps ..."

It's off the grid, GPS will not get you there reliably, you need a Forest Service map, as Doug says.

Off the paved road, it's 8 miles down a single-lane crummy dirt road. Cliff on one side and precipice on the other. We only referred to it elliptically for years as Cone Peak, as it's near there on the map. Pierce will remember the allusion, back when he was riding his motorcycle around up there.

Dry camping, no water anywhere near. You dig your own holes. With that and the chancy road, Blanchard and I both said more than once we wouldn't want to entice city boys to go there. Only good in spring and fall. Way too hot in the summer, and windy. You'd have to watch wind forecasts for the south of Big Sur, because it's miserable there when the wind is up.

Of course it's dark. Just don't be in a hurry to get all romantic over the spot. And note that Tallman said "we" when talking about being there.

So ignoring for a moment, the Dolan Fire closures -- when we say that "Prewitt Ridge" is closed, does it mean that:

(a) Developed campgrounds are shut down

(b) Dispersed camping is also shut down (i.e. "No camping" signage)

(c) Access (including day use) is shut down

On that note, has anyone tried securing a "Photon-starved astronomer" exception from the USFS, given that we are known to be quiet and environmentally responsible in general? It looks like a fantastic place for observations.

[John Pierce]

On Wed, Feb 24, 2021 at 4:39 PM Akarsh Simha <akars...@gmail.com> wrote:

So ignoring for a moment, the Dolan Fire closures -- when we say that "Prewitt Ridge" is closed, does it mean that:

(a) Developed campgrounds are shut down

(b) Dispersed camping is also shut down (i.e. "No camping" signage)

(c) Access (including day use) is shut down

Naciemento Fergeuson Rd is closed

South Coast Ridge Rd is closed

that means you can't get there any ways.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/lpnf/alerts-notices/?aid=61036

--

-john r pierce

  recycling used bits in santa cruz

[Akarsh Simha]

Does that, perhaps, imply that these roads will reopen after the Dolan fire order ends? (Possibly only to be closed again before the next fire season)

--

-john r pierce

  recycling used bits in santa cruz

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[John Pierce]

On Wed, Feb 24, 2021 at 5:03 PM Akarsh Simha <akars...@gmail.com> wrote:

Does that, perhaps, imply that these roads will reopen after the Dolan fire order ends? (Possibly only to be closed again before the next fire season)

unclear, due to the abuse and trash and stuff there was talk about banning dispersed camping at Prewitt prior to those fires.    The South Coast Ridge Road is *always* closed in the winter (signed "Road Impassable in Wet Weather" or something to that effect) anyways.

[Christopher Kelly]

Photon starved astronomers indeed!    

Several years ago I approached BLM with success about special access at Laguna Mtn.  We were able in mid-summer to drive past the locked gate to evaluate observing areas, noting that we are responsible and low impact users of the area.  Night-time is a valid use for isolated forest lands.   I was able to drive my SUV past the gate and set up at the short road that leads to the walk-in camp area at the following link:

https://goo.gl/maps/HPyTmZyCCbnqcvBV8

On a different trip under the same permit from BLM I with Rob Jaworski and a couple others checked out the road past the gate for good opportunities.   It was dark, dark, but no nice area that you could set up that was flat, and frankly the effort to climb the road was not worth the effort.  

Campsite #1 (with the park bench and interpretive sign) is about as good as it gets there.   But nowadays it's over-run with civilians .....

Soooo....its possible with BLM.   Worth a try with the NFS.  But one has to wonder why photon starved astronomers have not had regular access to Chews Ridge under NFS jurisdiction.

Clears

Chris

[Tan usa1]

Till 2019 prewitt ridge was our go to place for Milky Way photography and some drone flying early morning. Our trip in 2020 was a mixed bag as we really had to struggle to find a spot even after the crazy off-road section. The subarus turned back ( most of them anyways) but enough jeeps and trucks to make it like a fish market. Got our early enough so it was just a couple of Subarus trying to climb back up which blocked us. They gave up after 10 minutes. I am wondering what kind of traffic jam it would be later.

Now it’s panoche hills or a secret area at clear creek which has very little traffic or people even when the entire area is overrun 

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