Hello all,
Reading these posts about Nirvana reminded me that I wanted to post a short summary about my visit this past summer...
Allan Rahill of Montreal, Chris Thuemen, Raymond Dubois and myself gathered at Nirvana to observe for three nights at the end of July. ?The weather forecast was extremely favourable for all 3 nights. ?On arrival, it was obvious that the entrance way leading up to the airstrip was much, much improved with packed gravel. ?It is after all a logging route, so it's not too surprising that it would be fixed. ?My Mazda CX-5 had no issues going up the hill, and it was no longer necessary to do a sort of "twist and turn" to avoid the ruts. ?The downside to the easier access is that Nirvana indeed now attracts more visitors, such as ATVs, campers, people setting off fireworks, bonfires or target practice.
During our visit, it was a busy place (being weekend and all), and a group of people were camped out near the south end. ?They had a fire going and fireworks, but fortunately far enough to not be too bad. ?Allan, Raymond and I setup further to the north end, while Chris setup on the west side of the airstrip.
The bugs were bad (mosquitoes) at around sunset and a bit after but went away as the air cooled.
The sky was gorgeous. ?Easily hitting mag 6.8 or better. ?I looked forward to observing with Allan with his 28 inch dob, and doing meteor observing (as I been busy with home renos, etc... I have been less active in astronomy lately). ?Did I enjoy any observing? ?Nope! ?As I went back to my car to get my coffee in the dark, I lost my footing as my hand held the car door. ?Then the door swung towards me as I fell forward, and without any warning, I felt a sudden sharp pain, as the door's top corner hit smack in the middle of my left eye! ?A night of holding an ice pack didn't help, so in the morning, Raymond drove me to hospital where I was treated. ?That put a quick end to observing, but the good news is that my eye has healed after a couple of weeks. ?From what I heard, Raymond, Chris and Allan had some great dark skies. ?Allan had some unfortunate electrical issues with his 28 inch.
Nirvana continues to be a fantastic option for some of the darkest skies we can get within a couple of hours drive from Ottawa. ?But it may not be as quiet not that RVs, etc can easily get up there.
Clear skies!
Pierre
