Ever since I started in amateur astronomy in about 1984, over 99% of my viewing and imaging had been done from southern California. Outings beyond southern California have been rare for me. In an effort to change that a little bit, I ventured to the Golden State Star Party this year, which was held in its new "permanent" location near Adin, California. Adin is a small town of about 600 people just inside the southern portion of Modoc county, which is in the very far north eastern part of the state.

Travel and Arrival
I departed Ontario, California, on Monday, June 30th and headed toward San Francisco. I stayed the night with family. The next day, July 1st, I left San Francisco for Redding and stayed the night at a motel. Wednesday morning, I departed for the star party site. The gates opened at 11:00am and I arrived shortly thereafter at about 11:45am. After checking in at the gate, I found a spot at the north end of the field and set up camp.

The Grounds
The star party is held on a portion of the Frosty Acres cattle ranch. The ground is hard-packed clay and decomposed volcanic rock with grass about 12-18" high. The grass is not a problem since it doesn't grow densely and it flattens under mats and tents quite easily (although it may irritate sensitive skin). The large field is mostly flat with plenty of room, but offers nothing in the way of sun or wind protection. The dust potential is pretty low since there isn't much in the way of open areas with loose, dry dirt (the dirt road into the grounds being the only exception). The ground is littered with "cow pies" but they are very dry. Bugs were present (mostly around dusk) but they didn't present any real problems (and they usually LOVE me). If they get to the point of being bothersome, a quick spray of deet is all that's needed. Being the bug magnet that I am, I did use a couple sprays of Backwoods bug spray at dusk and they didn't bother me again.

Weather/Conditions/Skies
Due to the numerous wildfires that were ignited a couple weeks before the party started, smoke was on the minds of all attendees. Fortunately, the smoke did not turn out to be that big of a problem (although it was there and somewhat noticeable). The bigger annoyance was the wind. Although it tended to keep the daytime temps more tolerable, the wind was rather persistent every day from about 11am until 9pm. During the day, winds ranged from a rather constant 5-10 MPH to gusts of 20 or even 25 MPH on occasion.

Daytime temperatures were about 85-90°F. Evening temperatures ranged from about 60°F before midnight and to roughly 45°F shortly before sunrise. Darkness doesn't fall until about 10:30pm because of the latitude and time of year.

While smoke lined the horizons, the skies were mostly clear during the day except for Wednesday and Saturday, which were pretty cloudy. Fortunately, the skies were mostly or completely clear each night. The skies were not terribly steady, and the wind tended to persist throughout the night at about 5 MPH. Upper atmospheric disturbance left something to be desired. However, the skies were surprisingly clear, considering the smoke, and VERY dark.

Area Sights
This is one area where GSSP shines. Mt. Shasta, Lassen Volcanic National Park, McArthur-Burney Park with Burney Falls are all within 90 minutes of the star party site. My fiance and I drove to Lassen Volcanic National Park for the day on Thursday. We also stopped at Burney Falls, a very worthwhile destination. Driving to Burney Falls takes about 30 minutes. Getting to Lassen takes about 90 minutes. From Lassen we could see the Corral Fire and what appeared to be an increase in its activity (judging by the smoke we saw).

Amenities
Perks and conveniences at GSSP are few and far between. There is no running water or electricity on site. There are no provisions for food except for a couple organized BBQ's. You must be your own provider for just about everything. This isn't a bad thing in itself, but if you're used to the relative luxury of RTMC or Nightfall, this is quite a different star party. That said, the organizers did arrange a generator/power station for battery charging. They also arranged for a shower truck to be on site. However, due to the ongoing fire situation, the shower trucks were dedicated to serving firefighters and were not able to make it to the star party. As a backup, arrangements were made with the high school in Bieber, 8 miles away, to allow GSSP attendees use of the showers. Thank you GSSP and Bieber!

If you have a car available to you such that you can leave the site and go into town at will, it makes life much nicer. Diners, gas stations, and grocery stores are all available in Bieber and Adin.

Summary
The Golden State Star Party is an event with a lot of potential. The sight itself appears to be good—wind and a lack of shade being the only major drawbacks. You can try to block the wind with vehicle placement and you can bring shade in the form of EZ-Ups, tents, awnings, and the like. Amenities are nearly non-existent since there is no running water, no electricity, and only pit toilets. But the event organizers did a good job of ensuring there were enough toilets and hand-washing stations, that generators were available for charging batteries, and there was a backup plan for showers. Had the shower truck shown up, it would've been much nicer (but the organizers couldn't do anything about that) since you wouldn't have had to leave the site to clean up.

My ratings (10 being best)

• Location: 8 (remote, quiet, scenic, low dust)
• Amenities: 6 (no on-site water or power but toilets, handwashing stations, and battery charging stations were made available)
• Events: 7 (A few organized presentations, ranch activities, BBQ dinner on two of the nights)
• Sky: Darkness: 9 | Clarity: 7 | Steadiness: 6
• Overall Experience: 8

Conclusion
If you're self-contained with an RV or trailer, this is a great and enjoyable event. If you're a tent camper, it's still a great event but it's a bit more cumbersome to come fully prepared with plenty of food, water, battery power, and shade. The skies are extremely dark with the potential for very clear and steady skies (although clarity and steadiness were not at their best this time around). As with most star parties, attendees are friendly and informative.

My only recommendations to the organizers would be to (1) place the generator station/imaging tent closer to the area designated for imagers. They were at opposite ends of the field for some reason. And (2), if shower trucks become unavailable for future GSSPs, a shuttle or carpooling to the Bieber High School showers would be great.

Related Links
GSSP Web Site
GSSP Yahoo! Group