Vistas from Stony Ridge
updated Apr 15, 2010

Above: (courtesy Kay Meyer) This view is toward the South. To the left of the large pine tree, along the top of the distant ridge (6 miles), is an antenna farm that delivers radio and television signals to Los Angeles. Farther to left of the antennas is the 150-foot Solar Tower and the 100-inch dome of the Mt. Wilson Observatory. When Stony Ridge was being built, a leveled transit bisected the dome of the 100-inch telescope, indicating that SRO was at the same elevation as Mt. Wilson, 5675 feet (1730 meters). At night, in back of that distant ridge, is a vast ocean of light from the Los Angeles basin. Luckily for SRO, there are times when LA is blanketed by a marine-layer of fog that can completely block out the light pollution.

Above: (courtesy John Rogers) is practically the same view as the first photo, only this one was taken 3 weeks after the Station Fire swept through the forest. Smoldering trees and bushes abound everywhere, inluding on the north slopes of Mt. Wilson, six miles away.

Above: (courtesy Kay Meyer) A few steps from the dome to the southwest is this beautiful grove of Coulter pines.

Below: (courtesy John Rogers) As the area looked after the Station Fire.

 

One needs to be careful not to be standing under a Coulter when it decides to shed one of its breadloaf-size cones.

 

 

Aerial Photo of SRO, courtesy Google, 2009. The Stony Ridge site is the small white patch at the center of the image.

Topo Map of SRO from Delorme Maps. The coordinates shown are a tiny bit off, probably on the last part of the dirt road up to the site. The actual location is right under the "ri" in Doe Spring. And yes, there are deer at Doe Spring.

More images of the Stony Ridge Site.