Well, I'm back in one piece. Now that was just about as fun of a ride as it gets, 36 miles up and back, and pitch black for the return 18 mile trip. Can you say "deer in the headlights"...
Leaving the trailhead at 9:00pm:
About 9 miles in and it's still a go:
At about 12 miles and I'm starting to get a little skerd:
Ah, a first good look at our target for the night, the Moon and Venus:
I make it to the Pilot Peak Fire Lookout. It's dark enough that "dust" shows up on my camera lens:
Wow, what a view of the night sky. Saturn, Mars, the Moon, Venus, and Mercury are all there:
Well, it's getting really dark and I've got a case of the "heebie jeebies". Time to go!
I'm about 3 miles down and one final look at the jewels in the night sky:
I make it back to the truck at 11:30pm and home in bed by 12:30pm. Ah, the life of an old, retired guy...