Pied Type: Tips for TundraCam viewers

pikes_from_niwot — Depending on the lighting, you can see Pikes Peak on the southern horizon. Note the section of fence and trail that points directly to it. Click image for current view.

I’ve written more than once about the controllable TundraCam on Niwot Ridge northwest of Nederland, Colorado (about 15 miles due west of Boulder). Located at 11,600 feet, it affords some great views of the surrounding mountains and, occasionally, sightings of passing hikers or wildlife. It’s maintained by several research groups at the University of Colorado.

Anyway, the point of this post is that right after sunset this evening the lighting was particularly good for screenshots to show you where to look for Longs Peak (14,259 ft.) to the north and Pikes Peak (14,114 ft.) to the south. They are 102 miles apart as the crow flies.

You can control or steer the camera through a full 360 degrees (top slider), as well as up or down (left slider) and zoom (right slider). Go to the camera’s full screen view, of course, and click the control button at the bottom right to start. It takes a bit of practice to manipulate the slow, somewhat clumsy controls, and you only get 40 seconds per session. But if there’s no one waiting in the queue you’ll be able to click immediately for another turn. Rather than try to move the camera with the sliders, I’ve learned to just click on the screen.

For reference, look at the horizontal slider across the top; it’s center is north. Also look for the overhanging corner of the camera housing; it’s almost directly above Longs Peak.

Looking south, when the visibility is poor, look for what appears to be a gate or fence corner down by the trail. To the left of it and farther down the hill is a section of trail and fence that points directly at Pikes Peak. Don’t expect to see Pikes Peak very often; it really tends to fade into the horizon.

At night, of course, you can’t see much other than the lights of the Denver-Boulder corridor, but they’re always pretty. Twinkling lights down in the valley around Nederland are usually visible too, especially earlier in the evening.