Houston's telescopes

I travelled to Houston on company business and spent a couple of weekends there. One of those weekends, I visited the Brazos Bend State Park. While the park itself is a nice place to have a picnic and watch alligators, the observatory in the park had me really excited. The observatory has a three telescopes and a star gazing session each Saturday night. I had never been in an observatory before and I was looking forward to the night.

 

The night's session started with a slide show on the observatories telescopes and what we can expect to see that night. The turn out was excellent for a weekly event. There were a large number of kids with their parents. After the slideshow, we headed upstairs to the telescopes. All the area was lit with dim red lights. It had something to do with red not interfering with the telescopes functioning or night vision.

I spent the next couple hours like a kid in a candy store. I got a look through each of the three telescopes. The telescope in the central dome was huge. I just wonder how much engineering goes into building and controlling such a machine.

The really cool part was that a bunch of smaller telescopes were setup on the terrace. These were brought by astronomers/enthusiasts around Houston. There were different kinds of telescopes each covering a different section of the sky. One of them had a TV connected to it. This one was pointed at the moon and I could see the rough lunar surface like the back of my hand. I went around from telescope to telescope enjoying myself. Very knowledgeable people. All you had to do was show up at the telescope and they would patiently explain what the telescope is pointed at and answer all the questions. The evening completely excited my inner geek. Atleast one Saturday put to good use.

Trek to Kudremukh

Have you ever read Tolkien's work? Did you ever imagine how his beautiful world would look? Go to Kudremukh and you will find your dream alive. You can be forgiven if you think you are entering Rivendell.

From Kudremukh

The place is untarnished, isolated from the outside world and the sceneries are breathtaking. At the beginning of the trek, the path slowly descends and crosses a shallow stream. After the stream, the path winds across the hill side and offers splendid views. You can glimpse a couple of huts here and there. There are terrace farms on the other side of the valley and the Kudremukh peak beckons you at the end of the valley. Walk along a little and you come across this lone tree with a platform around its trunk. The place is so peaceful if some one told a rishi did penance for a thousand years there you would believe it.

From Kudremukh

Cross a couple of more streams and you will find yourself in a plain. We thought it was an abandoned terrace farm. From this point the mountain plays a game of catch me if you can. The peak seems so close at hand but every time you top a ridge you find the peak is a little bit away. The climb becomes tough but every step offers a better view. Every time you turn around you find yourself breathless.

From Kudremukh

And the light and the clouds. They work wonders. The valley alone is so green you could stare at it for hours. Throw in the shadows and the sun and you can spend the whole day watching the valley. The distant town bathed in sunlight while the valley at hand is in shade. One side of the valley covered in the clouds and the other glowing green. Its a kaleidoscope and it changes every minute.

From Kudremukh

As you make the summit of the mountain, the feeling is literally top of the world. The trek back is as rewarding as the climb. The valley keeps throwing up something new, a view that you missed in the hurry to make the peak, a breathtaking play of the sun and the mountain and what not. If you cant go to Switzerland(and even if you can), go to Kudremukh and you will remember this place forever.

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Ahem!!! A few words if you are planning to go there. The Kudremukh wild life sanctuary has a very good website. You cannot go into the park without a permit. The permit is available at the forest office on entry. You have to go in with a guide provided by the forest office. This is compulsory. It rains fairly regularly in Kudremukh. So be prepared. There are lots of leeches on the trek path. Be prepared with salt, tobacco or whatever you use. I suggest wearing polythene bags over your feet before wearing socks and shoes. There are treks of varying lengths. The trek to Kudremukh peak we took was supposedly 24kms(to and fro). It is very strenuous. So go prepared with lots of food and drink. If in doubt, pack some redbull. It really gives you wings. and finally a plug for the cab service we booked. Maroon Travels, Bangalore, 9845417454. This is the second time we used them and we were very happy with the trip.

Trek to Mt. Tammany

This Saturday we went on a trek in Delaware water gap. The water gap is where Delaware river flows between the hills of New Jersey. The drive to the park was very amazing. We passed drove through roads lined on both sides with trees and the early morning sunlight falling on the road through the leaves was very refreshing.

We started the trek at the foot of Dunnfield creek. This is a small flow of water from the hills that joins the Delaware.

From Mount Tammany

The trek started with a lazy walk up the side of the stream.

From Mount Tammany

We stopped at a bridge over the stream where the water falls over a sort of check dam built of small stones. Till this point the major discussion was how easy the trek is and how many treks near Bangalore are so much tougher. From the bridge the trail left the stream and struck up a hill. Soon our pace matched Ranatunga taking a single. After a few pit stops and a slow climb we reached the first observation point of the "mountain". Actually the mountain is only 1500ft high. It wouldn't have counted for much in the eastern ghats or the western ghats.



After discussing map reading and how find the directions from the location of the sun, we promptly headed in the wrong direction on our way down. Some how we got back on the path and made it to the peak. The view from the top was breathtaking. Delaware gently snakes between the mountains lined on both sides with greenery. The water is so clear you can see the bottom of the river from the peak.

From Mount Tammany

There was a rocky outcrop on the peak where you can sit an enjoy the view. There we sat for some time enjoyed the view in the nice sunshine. There were kids barely four five years old with their parents at the top. You rarely see parents in India taking such small kids hiking.

We just finished congratulating ourselves on avoiding the forecasted storm and guess what thunder. American weather changes so quickly. By the time we were half way down it started to drizzle. The tree cover was so thick we walked all the way to our parking lot without getting wet.

On the whole it was a difficult trek but the drive and the views from the top were worth it.