March 5, 2009: Murray Hill
With unseasonably warm temps (70 degrees yesterday!), I decided to make the most of the day and headed to Murray Hill (an overlook near Little Sioux, Iowa) I was going to get a better look at Comet Lulin, with a clear blue sky I (thought I) knew it would be very dark. Once I got to Missouri Valley, I noticed that the entire western horizon was a hazy mess. Once I got there, I stopped on the side of the road at a bend just before I got on the Easton Trail.
Then I headed to the parking lot at the trail head (really low maintenance lot) I ran up real quick to get some images in the daylight, but didn't pay attention to the ground beneath me and stepped into some mud and sunk in about 2 inches. I didn't realize that it would be so wet, since all the snow had melted the last two days. I walked up carefully trying not to get more muddy. Here is the view from the top.
It was so hazy I could not see farther than a few miles, The sun actually disappeared before it went below the horizon which was werid to see. I definitely need to get back here when It is not hazy, because you cant get a good feeling of the view when your visibility is so low, I think on a good day you could see 20-25 miles to the west. The sunset was kind of interesting though.
Then I waited a while for better twilight to come, and took a few shots of the hill. There is a pic-nic table about halfway up, and a bench near the summit shown here. It's pretty cool being up there, knowing that you're still in the midwest anyways, I mean I have been on a couple peaks in Colorado, and know that is way cooler, but still this little hill is pretty steep for a mostly flat plain. I think there is a spot with a 120 foot straight drop or so, so you definitely have to be careful. In fact in the car trail shot a few images below, you really have to get right on the side of the steep part of the hill, which is kinda of tricky to get the tripod set up while not falling off the side of the hill.
Later I tried to get some good car trails down the windy road, took about a half hour to get a decent shot. This isn't exactly what I wanted cause it's a little underexposed, but I like the road being lit up and the red trails behind it.
After it got too dark, I went back down to the parking lot and set up my telescope, and prepared to observe Comet Lulin. It was kind of creepy silent, so I turned music on my phone lol, I knew if I heard a noise I might wimp out or something. Set everything up before twilight ended and for a while I told myself it would get darker, because it wasn't that dark yet - probably the same limiting mag as Omaha on a moonless clear night - which was definitely disappointing. But Orion nebula looked good, so I began the search for Lulin, and I found it rather quickly, it was about 3 degrees southeast of the beehive cluster (M44). I tried to determine the limiting mag on the scope again and compare it to my session in Omaha the previous night, and it was just a little darker. I tried a few images after awhile of using the scope and got a few in focus, then planned to use the barndoor tracker again. But as I was taking one more shot, I looked at the screen and it was all white, what the heck? so I try it again and it does the same thing, i'm thinking, this sucks! why is it doing this! then I realized that the lens had a bunch of condensation on it, so I whipped it off, but after that, it was never the same. I couldn't get it in focus and the condensation kept coming back. So I gave up on the idea of using the tracker, and I kind of wanted to get home, so I started to leave. Here is that one good image of lulin...
I start driving away and decide to get some shots of the hill from a distance and hopefully get some car trails going up the road. I got a couple of Lucky shots, one is the only shot from now on without an ISO of 800 or higher (only one was 800 the rest were 1600, I would later regret this).
If you look closely you can see some star trails in that last image. I think it was 2 or 3 minute shutter. Now I wanted to get closer and get some red lights and headlights lighting the path. Didn't get that though, but I did find a windmill against the hill which was pretty cool. Saturns in there and Regulus is just at the top of the image, as will as 3 stars in the handle of ursa major.
After I knew I wouldn't get any better shots, I began to drive back again and at the same spot as the first image I ran into a little wave of fog. I thought, hold on this is just starting to get interesting, so I drove back to the hill and checked to see it it was low lying fog, or if it was just a big lower cloud. When I got to the parking lot, I could tell there were patchy spots of fog over the fields. I then quickly got out and ran up the hill, yes I ran.. It was really calm and nice out still, probably still about 60 degrees. I get up to the picnic table and shoot off a couple shots to see where the "better" fog was setting up. I realized the better foreground was up near the top, with the road below, so I hiked up there. And took this shot.
It wasn't anything amazing, but still, a noticeable fog. Then I saw this little cloud thing behind me to the north.
Then I brought my attention back to the south, where the road and town was. I didn't get anything better than the previous photo though. Then I looked back to the north, and the "little" cloud had now grow considerably, now i'm thinking...hmmm what could this be.
Then I remembered Mike Hollingshead had a crazy "fog storm" blow up over him in south dakota, check out that amazing storm here. So I'm thinking, sweet! this will be awesome. Then it gets closer...
Soon its just this huge wall of white right in front of me. I am at the top of this 300 foot hill, and there is this giant fog storm headed my way. I take a few shots to the west showing the difference between the fog level and the level of the hill.
At this point I just can't believe what I'm seeing, this was the last thing I expected to see here. I quickly pointed back directly into the wall and hopped into the shot cause I was kind of freaking out about it now lol.
Now I look to the west and take one more, just to check the progress (I switched shutter speeds from 30 to 15 now) It was crazy looking at this thing taking over the house down there.
Now reality sets in. I'm on a 300 foot hill and a huge fog front thing is coming straight at me...what to do? I just started runing into back to my car. Winds went from calm to 20-30mph and at one point I couldn't see more than 15 feet in front of me. This was one of the spookiest things I have ever had to do...run down a hill in a thick fog with high winds. But I could see far enough ahead to follow the trail pretty easy. I made it to my car and just sat there for a few seconds thinking about how cool that really was. Then I started up and turned around, and was driving out of the parking lot when I bottomed out and suddenly slipped into about a foot and a half of mudd! I quickly floored the gas pedal out of instinct (wrong word?). luckily I made it out alright.
On the way home, the Fog was terrible, pretty much all the way down I-29 was a thick fog that you could see more than a hundred yards or so in front of you. It sucked having to pay so close attention to the road. I stopped in Missouri Valley to get gas, and saw the front edge again, as it hid the Mcdonalds and gas station, but the top of it was clearly visible, since I could see the golden arch above it. It was a pretty cool scene. A fun trip, a bit of random unexpected madness, but thats just what I needed.
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