Hidden Gem of the State Park System
We have lots of fond memories of camping trips to Sugarloaf over the years. It’s close to home, family-friendly, and has a nice variety of hikes. When our son was just over a year old, he discovered his reflection in the bumper of our Tacoma while devouring watermelon. What a sticky mess. Years later, we spent a spring break bike-packing through Sonoma County. It was in the weird days right before the COVID vaccines became available, and camping was the perfect escape. This time, the kids were big, and although Matthew towed most of the essentials behind his bike, everyone carried something. Henry slept in his hammock, and El slept on the ground under the stars. We found an amazing section of vertebrae, and we ate an unreasonable amount of s’mores (another sticky mess).
But for all the times we’ve ventured to the park, we’ve never been able to enjoy the Robert Ferguson Observatory. Though we’ve passed by it while hiking to Neptune on the planet walk, campsites sell out quickly on the nights with public Star Parties, so we never went and had no idea what was inside.
Chris V. from the Bay Area Rivian Club lives close to Sugarloaf. He heard you could arrange a private event at the observatory if you also booked the group campsite. So, he started to plan, looking for a weekend around the new moon, without a public sky party, so he could jump on the group campsite reservation. It took a lot of persistence, but he did it, and then the Rivian Club members quickly scooped up all of the tickets in a matter of a few hours. Luckily, we had agreed to sponsor the campsite fee, so our ticket was guaranteed!
All I can say is wow, wow, wow. What a fantastic event! Chris and Zak from BARC were super organized and the volunteer docents were incredibly knowledgeable and helpful. We were able to spend hours walking between the three telescopes and listening to prepared lectures about black holes, dark matter and energy, and the search for life around other stars. We saw Saturn and its rings, as well as three of its moons! They pointed the telescopes at the Andromeda Galaxy. And we were able to talk to the docents about the research being carried out at the facility. It was so much fun to nerd out with a bunch of other Rivian folks, and we can’t wait to go back and do it again!
