Monday Mail: Find dark skies for falling stars

Losing sleep dreaming about the things that we could be: It’s Monday Mail.

Stars

Today’s opening is from the song “Counting Stars” by OneRepublic.

Falling stars

It is Aug. 8, the first day of school and a month shy of Labor Day (when my generation went back to school). Also on the horizon is the Perseid meteor shower.

This year astronomers expect an “outburst,” with up to 200 meteors an hour. The best viewing time is midnight to dawn Friday, though Saturday night may have some, too.

The Perseids are cosmic debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle, and this year the Earth is to plow right into them, so they smack like lovebugs against the windshield of our atmosphere.

Were you here during previous meteor showers predicted to be absolutely fabulous, then you know what’s likely:

It will be cloudy. The forecasts for Friday and Saturday are scattered thunderstorms, a 60 percent chance of rain and 80 to 85 percent humidity.

Not that you could see the night sky anyway, with all the light pollution here.

Nightfall

To escape electric city lights, you’ve got to go miles from the streets.

Today we have reader responses to Thursday’s Insight Notes column on hiking safety. It started with an anecdote about a guy who got lost at night on the Pine Mountain Trail:

Good afternoon Mr. Chitwood,

I read, and enjoyed your article! I run a company called Iron Braid Adventures locally. We specialize in courses to teach people the basics. Although my passion is to get more women involved in hiking/backpacking, our courses are open to everyone. We believe that through education comes enlightenment. All of our courses are designed to teach you all the basic skills you need to have successful adventures…. We offer Backpacking 101, Wilderness Survival, and Land Navigation 101. We also provide guided adventures and group retreats.

Most rescues and survival situations start with a simple day hike.… This man was lucky he had his cell phone and that he had service. In a lot of situations, this is not the case….

Best regards,

Michele Eisenzopf,

ironbraidadventures.com.

Dear Michele:

So how many women would I get to camp with on a course, were I not old and married with a broken leg?

I think backpacking is a wonderful avocation, for people younger than I, who don’t mind hauling 40 pounds up a mountain to drink warm whiskey from a bladder and eat dehydrated food from an envelope.

It’s not so bad out West, where the air’s dry. It’s hell here in the South in the summer.

Those lightweight backpacking tents still don’t have air-conditioners.

Last leg

Here’s a message from Jim Hall of the Pine Mountain Trail Association, which maintains the 23-mile trail and often assists visitors in Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park. He references one of my unsuccessful summer adventures:

Your article today was spot on. Hopefully readers will take it to heart.

We (PMTA and FDR State Park) have been blessed to not have had a loss of life situation. Way more lost, turned around, pooped out due to not enough water situations last three years than previous twenty! …You know, us old Boy Scouts really do follow our rule for hiking: “Five minutes or five miles, same stuff." Plus enough water.

Hope your leg heals OK. Know your pain and discomfort. Last day of school in 1960 my Cub Scout den had a party at the Boy Scout camp some 40 miles away (north of where we lived in Alexandria, La.). Anyway, playing chase I fell and my chubby friend Gary fell on me. Broke my upper left leg. Three days later I was home confined to a hospital bed for eight weeks in a body cast, down my left leg, halfway down my right and halfway up my chest! Dad put a window unit AC in and our one black-and-white TV in my room. We only got three channels and seems most of that summer political stuff was on (Kennedy/Nixon). I haven't watched a debate since nor eaten any prunes (which I got with nearly every meal). I remember going with Dad to vote that November. Hey, I probably knew more than he about those running. Thankfully two years later JFK got us past the Cuban/Russian scare and we didn't have to really duck under our desks (like that would have helped).

Jim.

Dear Jim:

I am forever thankful the plaster cast went out of fashion before I fractured my tibia.

You had an air conditioner in 1960? I didn’t have air-conditioning until I went off to college in 1982.

This story was originally published August 7, 2016 at 1:49 PM with the headline "Monday Mail: Find dark skies for falling stars."