Comments on Mike Brown's Planets: Millard Canyon Memories

THanks for the timely information. We were actuall...

2009-12-05T16:17:25.812-08:00

THanks for the timely information. We were actually talking about the place 2 weeks ago.

Hello Mike I am hoping that it's true that the wo...

2009-09-08T15:58:57.212-07:00

Hello Mike

I am hoping that it's true that the wonderful Millard Canyon cabins have been spared. I owned Cabin #45 many years back and it is the only thing in my life that I've ever regretted selling. What a magical, well hidden gem this canyon is. A place where you can actually live a natural life within minutes from the LA mega-city.

I am a photographer and have a few photos that might be of interest to you for your book. Hopefully, Millard Canyon can remain somewhat a "secret", even after you reveal your life there ...

Hello Mike I am hoping that it's true that the wo...

2009-09-08T15:57:38.888-07:00

I am looking forward to reading your book.

2009-09-07T20:00:25.295-07:00

I am looking forward to reading your book.

I live 2 blocks from Caltech for 25 years, & I go ...

2009-09-04T03:46:11.850-07:00

I live 2 blocks from Caltech for 25 years, & I go up the Angeles Crest Hwy 2 for amateur astronomy (meteors & comets, click on my name for my website). I recently took up MTB (Mountain Biking) & start from the JPL parking lot, up lower Brown Mtn Rd, hit the saddle, & down El Prieto trail (famous single-track). Or, I bypass El Prieto & go down & hit Altadena/Lincoln drive. There's a sign "Millard Campground", which I've never been to.

Dr. Robert Leighton (who co-authored Feyman's Lectures in Physics), former Caltech physics prof & dept head, used to take his family in these local mtns. His son Alan (his other son Ralph was Feynman's buddy, see the NOVA special Tanu Tuva) told me how they went up to see Comet Ikeya-Seki back in the 60's.

Man, that's wild living like that. What do you do about bathing? Did you have electricity & TV/radio? The smog (air pollution) goes right up to these foothills, how did you deal with it?

I just got back from SW China, near Eastern Tibetan Plateau for the solar eclipse. I was in the mountains (9000 - 15,000 ft), & there were a lot of Buddhist monasteries where I stayed at. Outhouses are the norm, running water came from the local streams/rivers (very rainy mountains there). At our eclipse site 15,000 ft on Zimei Pass, we were setup next to a "cabin" which was inhabited by 4-legged Yaks!!).

In 2008, I was in NW China for the solar eclipse. On the way down from the Balikun valley (nestled in Tien Shan mountains), we stopped by a roadside vendor along the windy road. They lived in a cabin & the running water was directly from the mountain. In the video, you can see the girl drinking from it.

Mike, Your remembrance of one personally beloved ...

2009-09-01T18:08:34.405-07:00

Mike,

Your remembrance of one personally beloved structure reflects the concern of millions regarding #mtwilson. Thank you for the well written (yet possibly flawed ;) recollection of days that seemed both harsh and wonderful at once.

I'm curious though. "Refrigerator Hill", ropes and water heaters?

What happened to artificial lighting? Back in the late 1900's, we had all kinds of gear you could get for cheap to help you navigate in the dark.

I'm just jabbing you in the ribs ;)

The romance we have initiated with The Universe sometimes makes us blind to other details.

I may be in Tennessee but my mind is with you in California.

Please continue to update us on current events, past experiences and upcoming discoveries.

Sincerely,

Michael

Glad the place still exists. My best friend is st...

2009-08-31T11:16:29.590-07:00

Glad the place still exists.

My best friend is studying astronomy and wants to be a planet hunter. What are some of the best locations to do this? Can it be done with people's own telescopes or would they need to use a super powerful one like those on Mauna Kea?

Hooray! That's really great news! I fell in love ...

2009-08-31T09:40:59.001-07:00

Hooray! That's really great news!

I fell in love with that little place when a very good friend and partner of mine introduced me to it.

It most certainly is a magical place and I am relieved to find it's still there.

Do you know anything about the other cabins?

Thanks for the great news Mike. It's nice to know that a magical place on our planet still exists

Hooray! That's really great news! I fell in love ...

2009-08-31T09:36:31.715-07:00

Hooray! That's really great news!

I fell in love with that place when a very good friend of mine (and actually yours as well ;-) ) introduced me to it.

Thanks for the update, Mike.

IT'S STILL THERE! Just got word from an old neighb...

2009-08-31T06:09:48.615-07:00

IT'S STILL THERE! Just got word from an old neighbor that the fire was stopped a few hundred yards above the canyon.

Morgan -- Fairly amazing coincidence! I was in the...

2009-08-30T22:26:36.762-07:00

Morgan --
Fairly amazing coincidence! I was in the further downstream of the two cabins across the creek from yours. Perhaps you even know the real "refrigerator hill" story? By 1994 it was only ancient legend.
Mike

Mike, It was very strange to read your article on...

2009-08-30T21:39:59.927-07:00

Mike,

It was very strange to read your article on Millard Canyon. You could only have been living in one of three possible cabins there. Of those three I owned cabin #48 for about twelve years (I think). It was over the footbridge at the bottom of "refrigerator hill" and down the trail a little bit. As I am almost certain you never lived in the cabin I owned I assume it was one of the two across the creek.
It was really a magical place where I would take son almost weekend for years when he was very young. You could not keep him away from the creek. He was allowed to go from the footbridge to the little water fall. Good times.
Anyway, I enjoyed your story. I too am concerned about those cabins.

Morgan Jones

Busted. Well. Mostly. My hours were irregular, so ...

2009-08-30T19:46:07.207-07:00

Busted. Well. Mostly. My hours were irregular, so it >could< be dark at any time. But ever 28 days it was >definitely< dark.

These statements cannot both be correct: This: "I...

2009-08-30T19:36:33.074-07:00

These statements cannot both be correct:

This:
"I worked long hours, and it was almost always dark, often past midnight, when I made my way back into the mountains to go home for the night."

and this:

"Every 28 days the moon became new and entirely disappeared from the sky and I was almost lost."

Don't add up. If you were getting home at about midnight, then for the first 6 days from the new moon on, the available moonlight would be zilch, as the crescent moon would have already set. Similarly, for the last few days before the new moon, it would not yet have risen until closer to dawn than midnight, so it would still have been as dark as a new moon. So your moonless journey wound not have been once every 28 days, it would have been about two weeks out of every four.