A couple of years ago, when
I first got back into astronomy seriously, I kept hearing about Fremont Peak.
At first, I thought this site was in Fremont, CA and somehow I had missed it in
my travels. I soon found out that this area was a state park, complete with
camping facilities and an observatory. The California State Parks department
had worked with local amateur astronomers in setting up an area that is very
amateur astronomer friendly about an hour and a half south of San Jose on
highway 101.
My first visit was on a new-moon weekend. I was surprised at the lack of people
in the campgrounds, but to me, that was a plus! So, I proceeded to pick out the
best campsite, set up my tent and my telescope. It was surprisingly dark for a
site so close to the metro area of San Jose to the north, Salinas (with a
prison) to the south and the little town of San Juan Batista at the base.
While the observatory is open for public viewing on certain nights, one can set
up their viewing equipment on "telescope row". The main gate is
closed at 9pm so the instance of vehicles with their headlights blazing is
minimal.
The campgrounds have picnic tables, nice toilet facilities, fire pits and easy
access. There is a $7 fee for camping overnight per night per sight. When I was
there over the summer, the park rangers were very nice and considerate towards
those of us setting up our telescopes. (They drove around with just their
parking lights on.) Subsequent trips to the Peak have been equally enjoyable.
The sky is relatively dark. When the fog rolls in and covers the valley along
with the cities' lights, it is very dark. However, due to the prison in Salinas
upgrading their security lighting systems, if it's not foggy, there is a sky
glow in the south as well as the north. This can cut into deep sky observing,
especially if you are searching remote galaxies and faint nebula. Trees growing
up the western slope of Fremont Peak obscure the western horizon (and part of
the northern horizon).
On certain nights during the year, The Fremont Peak Observing Association opens
up their observatory to the public. A schedule of these nights can be found at
www.fpoa.net. At times during the new moon, it can get a little
crowded on telescope row, but all the people are lovely and very helpful. This
is a main stay site of observers living in the South Bay.
Fremont Peak is also quiet for the most part. There was one instance where a
bunch of kids were celebrating graduation and for most of the night we were
serenaded with salsa music, but hey, you only graduate high school once so we
weren't going to begrudge them their celebrations. (It's tough enough being a
teenager and you would have to pay me an obscene amount of money to relive it
for even one day.) We ended up showing these young adults our telescopes and
while they did not stay long enough to look at a couple things, I hope that
just checking out the scopes planted a seed that will one day bloom.
All in all, Fremont Peak is a good site to head out to do observing. It's
proximity and astronomer-friendly format makes it an enjoyable site. I've been
up to the Peak several times and plan to go up again in the future. For more
information and directions, check out the FPOA site and the California State
Parks website at
www.parks.ca.gov.
