Show us your Post-Quarantine Campsite!!

2Cougs

After many cancelled trips, got to go to Riley Creek Campground, Laclede, Idaho.  Took grandkids... so spent too much time riding bikes, taking hikes, learning to fish... and taking pics of them, and none of the trailer!!!
Here are our 2 little Jr. Rangers

Even came back from hike with a few huckleberries!!!

jgram2

Is there any question? These 2 are waaaay cuter than any trailer, even a T@B!

Marceline

Plumas National Forest

NomadPilgrim

ScottG said:

And Schoodic Woods is closed until at least Aug. 1, with no new reservations currently being taken. 

I have late August reservations, hope they still stand. Going back to Winhall Brook next week. Thompson Lake is open but fully booked. It's all in flux for 2020.

DougH

NFS land in North Texas. The only visitor to the campground this morning besides coyotes was C/2020 F3 NEOWISE. A very brief visitor to our neck of the woods in the solar system... as it only brightened and stayed above the horizon in the northern hemisphere a few days. Early this morning before sunrise was the last day before it headed back out to whence it came. But it was the brightest comet we've had in a few years. I took a hundred frames, but with the thickness of the mid to upper level clouds, I dunno if I have enough raw material when it appeared in the breaks for post-processing in Siril (astrophotography app).

AirBoss

@DougH
Very nicely done. 

DougH

If anyone is keen to get into astrophotography (hours of exposure on an object run through gobs of postprocessing algorithms), but is concerned about making room for a $25k telescope and gear inside a T@B...  you can instead buy a Fornax LightTrack II to get sub-arcsecond accurate tracking of the stars, especially with a single axis additional integrated auto guider like the Lacerta MGEN II (assuming a good polar alignment).  Then any lightweight triplet refractor with quality glass can sit on top that Fornax with or without a piggyback camera. Camera should also be lightweight, like a Fujifilm mirrorless or a dedicated astronomy CCD. Only requires a very sturdy photographer's tripod. The tripod, not the photographer, that is. Easily all fits in half an under-bench storage area.

ADRawli

DougH said:

If anyone is keen to get into astrophotography (hours of exposure on an object run through gobs of postprocessing algorithms), but is concerned about making room for a $25k telescope and gear inside a T@B...  you can instead buy a Fornax LightTrack II to get sub-arcsecond accurate tracking of the stars, especially with a single axis additional integrated auto guider like the Lacerta MGEN II (assuming a good polar alignment).  Then any lightweight triplet refractor with quality glass can sit on top that Fornax with or without a piggyback camera. Camera should also be lightweight, like a Fujifilm mirrorless or a dedicated astronomy CCD. Only requires a very sturdy photographer's tripod. The tripod, not the photographer, that is. Easily all fits in half an under-bench storage area.

You lost me at “If...”.  

But loved the photos!

DougH

@ADRawli ; No really, it's super spiffy stuff and a fun hobby.    Honestly!  Those pics above were just single images.  Tracked with a mount that slowly rotates with the sky, but just single 10-20 second images.

But when you take a few hundred or a few thousand images of the same thing over and over again, like a comet for example, over the course of a night or several nights, unbelievably kewl math starts to spring up.  Like on 600 of those 1000 hypothetical pics there will be just a whisper of extra color in the comet head, or the faintest hint of dozens of nearby stars that you cannot see on any one image. But it's in the digital data of the image. With various statistics maths, software can exactly align, rotate, and stretch each image or sections of each image so the stars that do happen to be visible lie exactly on top of each other. Then all those whispers of extra light and color are no longer whispers, but add up to become meaningful, while the boring background can be figured out and subtracted out.  Suddenly BAM, hundreds times more stars are in the stacked added up image, any nebulosity around a star jumps out, faint details of structure in distant galaxies become sharp.

Case in point:  From the middle of D/FW near the light polluted airport where you're lucky to see a dozen stars I took just 25 images of the Andromeda galaxy from the backyard. Not 500 or 5000, but just 25.  Using only the Siril and Gimp apps (both free), 25 of those 30 second shots or 12.5 net minutes of exposure that each looked as yucky as this...



...gets transformed into...

...where some of the details of our nearest neighboring galaxy are just beginning to become visible.  Now jump from 12.5 net minutes to 12.5 hours of exposure and you can get shots that approach Hubble. There used to be a guy with a condo in uptown Dallas who sold prints and calendars of shots from central Dallas that looked like they were taken from an observatory at 12000 feet in Colorado.  Or a perfect hobby when you're in a T@B and don't have the connectivity for Netflix... but there's clear skies. Just give up on sleep, and accept that the mosquitos will drink half your blood each night.

But so worth it.

Denny16

Yes stacking Astro photos can be fun.
cheers

RFraer

Twin Lakes CO

DougH

@RFraer ; Incredible shots.

AirBoss

Had hoped to post pics from Twin Lakes in CA. Sierra Nevada's, but...park emailed 2 hrs ago to say they have electrical issues so no A/C until Wed. It was 103 when we pulled into a CG for one night on the way to Twin Lakes.

Guess who's getting up early and hittin' the road back while GF searches for new place to call home for the week. May BD but not in this heat...

Trials and tribulations all part of the fun! 

@RFraer...nicely done! 

Sharon_is_SAM

@AirBoss - that’s a bummer.  But really no choice but to turn around.  It’s one thing if you are at the beach and it cools down at night, but 103 is pretty extreme.

ADRawli

DougH said:

@ADRawli ; No really, it's super spiffy stuff and a fun hobby.    Honestly!  Those pics above were just single images.  Tracked with a mount that slowly rotates with the sky, but just single 10-20 second images.

But when you take a few hundred or a few thousand images of the same thing over and over again, like a comet for example, over the course of a night or several nights, unbelievably kewl math starts to spring up.  Like on 600 of those 1000 hypothetical pics there will be just a whisper of extra color in the comet head, or the faintest hint of dozens of nearby stars that you cannot see on any one image. But it's in the digital data of the image. With various statistics maths, software can exactly align, rotate, and stretch each image or sections of each image so the stars that do happen to be visible lie exactly on top of each other. Then all those whispers of extra light and color are no longer whispers, but add up to become meaningful, while the boring background can be figured out and subtracted out.  Suddenly BAM, hundreds times more stars are in the stacked added up image, any nebulosity around a star jumps out, faint details of structure in distant galaxies become sharp.

Case in point:  From the middle of D/FW near the light polluted airport where you're lucky to see a dozen stars I took just 25 images of the Andromeda galaxy from the backyard. Not 500 or 5000, but just 25.  Using only the Siril and Gimp apps (both free), 25 of those 30 second shots or 12.5 net minutes of exposure that each looked as yucky as this...



...gets transformed into...

...where some of the details of our nearest neighboring galaxy are just beginning to become visible.  Now jump from 12.5 net minutes to 12.5 hours of exposure and you can get shots that approach Hubble. There used to be a guy with a condo in uptown Dallas who sold prints and calendars of shots from central Dallas that looked like they were taken from an observatory at 12000 feet in Colorado.  Or a perfect hobby when you're in a T@B and don't have the connectivity for Netflix... but there's clear skies. Just give up on sleep, and accept that the mosquitos will drink half your blood each night.

But so worth it.

I must admit that this is incredible stuff. I’ve always loved space, and love looking at the night sky, or at least I did before my eyes decided to get old.  Nothing beats a night sky from 10000 ft 100 miles from city lights.  Grew up in Utah and so got that opportunity regularly each summer growing up. Gave up on most of that since moving to Texas 17 years ago, but to think you can get a little help from technology and do that from right here in the DFW area with image stacking is amazing.  Truly amazing.  

Oh, and I was only kidding about being lost.... well, about half kidding, about 3/4 understanding, and fully impressed.  

awahl

Hi Campers! 

Finally posting some pics from our maiden voyage @ Indigo Bluffs RV Park in beautiful Empire MI... We paddled the Crystal River and spent a quiet evening on the beach waiting for the sunset.

Say what you want about our winter but there's nothing like a Michigan summer day  

Denny16

Nice...  A grand spot for your first outing.
cheers

AirBoss

Congrats! Beautiful. 

NateColo

In the area around Crested Butte, CO on the weekend of July 10. Very dry and with fewer wildflowers than usual.

Our T@b (my wife named it "Rosie") and dog Max. Our 2017 320s is towed by a 2011 FJ Cruiser.

View from the top of Scarp Ridge, looking towards Maroon Bells.

Washington Gulch area north of Crested Butte.

ADRawli

@NateColo.  Could not think of getting much better than camping in a T@B in the mountains of Colorado, and how I would love to be out there with my fly rod on that stream you show from Washington Gulch.  Wish I were about 600 miles closer.  The older I get the more I realize how lucky I was growing up in the Rockies.

Thanks to all who continue to post photos.  I love this great land of ours, and all it offers, and seeing y’all’s adventures reminds me of that great blessing we share.

NateColo

ADRawli said:

@NateColo.  Could not think of getting much better than camping in a T@B in the mountains of Colorado, and how I would love to be out there with my fly rod on that stream you show from Washington Gulch.  Wish I were about 600 miles closer.  The older I get the more I realize how lucky I was growing up in the Rockies.

Thanks to all who continue to post photos.  I love this great land of ours, and all it offers, and seeing y’all’s adventures reminds me of that great blessing we share.

Thanks, AD. Our second year with the T@B, thoroughly enjoying it.

We've got most of our trips lined up for the remainder of the summer and autumn, mostly hitting the Elk Mountains and the San Juans. We actually scored a spot inside the park at Maroon Bells around peak fall color woot!

Many thanks to those who post here. The comments, mods, inputs of others have been very useful and educational.

morey000

Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona
Dispersed camping area.  10 miles of dirt road.  4WD to get into this little area.
creek with rocky waterfalls and small swimming holes off to the right.  

Pintoplumber

This was in Chapman State Park, Warren county PA. Couple weeks ago. Some lady walking by said we the prettiest campsite setup in the whole park, and 2 guys asked what year is the suburban. Dennis

BrianZ

Hey @awahl, nice setup & great photos!
Your SeaEagle inflatable kayak caught my eye, because we just ordered a model 385fta, and wondering how your experience has been with it.  I see you also got the tall seat backs.  Also, does "maiden voyage" refer to your T@B or the kayak?

Mouseketab

Left the spouses and the kids at home, and three ladies got to laugh and run our mouths with an awesome lake view and some good 'shine, Defeated Creek COE Campground, Carthage, TN

2Cougs

Bonaparte Lake Campground... part of the Okanagan National Forest near Tonasket, WA.  Beautiful!  No hookups, but made up for it when you go to bed to the sound of loons, owls, and the splashing of beaver tails.  Canoes, kayaks, fishing boats... nice and quiet.  

Took the trail to the lookout... worth the walk/hike!

AirBoss

My favorite part of that state...my home state.

So many days and nights at Curlew, Bonaparte, Okanogan territory growing up. 

Home sick! 

2Cougs

@AirBoss - We explored historic Oroville and even had a burger at the Chesaw General store!  Beautiful part of our state.

ScottG

NomadPilgrim said:

ScottG said:

And Schoodic Woods is closed until at least Aug. 1, with no new reservations currently being taken. 

I have late August reservations, hope they still stand. Going back to Winhall Brook next week. Thompson Lake is open but fully booked. It's all in flux for 2020.

FYI it was just announced that Schoodic Woods (and all other Acadia NP campgrounds) will remain closed for the 2020 season.

jkjenn

RFraer said:

Twin Lakes CO

One of my favorite places!

I ams still in the east at not-too-exciting places, but camping has provided relief from city life and heat this summer and I have enjoyed working at some parks. 

Deer Creek State Park (Ohio)


And one from A.W. Marion State Park (Ohio)