This is a field of telescopes located on the top of Table mountain at approximately 6300' about 6 miles away from our building site. The Table Mountain Star Party is reported to be the 3rd largest in the United States and I can tell you from experience it's quite a lot of fun. Astronomers may be geeks but they sure know how to party all night long. We went up there to take a break from the heat and stumble around in the dark a bit.

Unfortunately, the top of Table Mountain burned over during the fall of 2012 and the Forest Service would not issue permits for the star party any more. The TMSP moved to a private site close to the Canadian border. The old telescope field is still used by a small number of amatuer astronomers each night during the summer, especially around the new moons but it's nothing like the old TMSP.