Even before it started to snow the snowplow trucks were whizzing by on Kanawah Run Road (WV 15) at regular intervals headed for the Monongahela Mountain passes to the east and southeast. Because we had reservations for the tour of the Green Bank Observatory later that morning there was cause for concern. Then real snow started as we were breaking camp. As the K2R2 climbed through 3,000 feet elevation the roads started to deteriorate rapidly. Averaging only 25 MPH over the three passes along the way really retarded our progress and eroded our arrival time.
This is one of those spots in the middle of nowhere that most people don’t know exists. The observatory is so sensitive to electromagnetic emissions that cell phone service is very spotty, and the citizens in the area were not allowed to have home Wi-Fi routers until very recently. The tour is conducted on special buses where your electronics are stored in a Ferriday cage. All the engines used at the facilities are diesel including the weed eaters so they don’t interfere with the dishes! Being able to study galactic objects with the huge arrays at this site helps the radio astronomers to discern properties of deep space galaxies that are hidden to our eyes. And they can listen for ALIENS! But only analog cameras are allowed on the tour so he photos here were taken at great distance and only represent a small portion of the radio telescopes scattered over the landscape of the compound.
It was a short hop to the Smoke hole lodge where a cabin awaits us as the cold weather arrived. First we had a stop at Seneca Rocks.
