Palomar Mountain State Park

Palomar Mountain is the location of Palomar Mountain State Park, a California State Park. There are campgrounds for vacationers, and a campground for local school children until the San Diego Unified School District was forced to close it due to state budget cuts. The park averages 70,000 visitors annually. The campgrounds in the park were temporarily closed on October 2, 2011, due to state budget cuts. The park was among 70 California State Parks threatened by budget cuts in fiscal years 2011-2012 and 2012-2013, but the park and the campgrounds remain open.

Palomar Mountain, especially in the state park area, is densely wooded with abundant oak and conifer tree species (pine, cedar, fir). Ferns are abundant everywhere in the shady forest. The forest is supported by annual precipitation totals in excess of 30 inches.

Beginning in the 1920s a lookout tower has been present on Boucher Hill on Palomar Mountain. The tower had been active until it was abandoned in 1983 and then was reactivated when the FFLA (Forest Fire Lookout Association) began manning it in 2012. Boucher Hill sees more than 11,000 visitors a season. The tower opens around May 1 in conjunction with the fire season and closes in early December. During this period the tower is typically staffed 7 days a week from 9am to 5pm.

Doane Valley, located within the State Park, is home to the Camp Palomar Outdoor School for 6th grade students in the San Diego Unified School District.

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## **Tour Palomar Observatory**

**Palomar Observatory** is an astronomical observatory in San Diego County, California, United States, 145 kilometers southeast of Los Angeles, California, in the Palomar Mountain Range. It is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology, located in Pasadena, California..

The Observatory is home to three active research telescopes: the 200-inch (5.1-meter) Hale Telescope, the 48-inch (1.2-meter) Samuel Oschin Telescope, and the 60-inch (1.5-meter) telescope. Research at Palomar Observatory is pursued by a broad community of astronomers from Caltech and other domestic and international partner institutions.

In addition, other instruments and projects have been hosted at the observatory, such as the Palomar Testbed Interferometer and the historic 18-inch (0.46 m) Schmidt telescope, Palomar Observatory's first telescope, dating from 1936.

The observatory is located off State Route 76 in northern San Diego County, California, two hours' drive from downtown San Diego and three hours' drive from central Los Angeles ( UCLA, LAX airport ). Those staying at nearby Palomar Campground can visit Palomar Observatory by hiking 2.2 miles (3.5 km) up Observatory Trail.

* **CalTech Department of Astronomy** Operations Palomar Observatory- The Astronomy Department at the California Institute of Technology is part of the Division of Physics, Math, and Astronomy. Their primary missionis twofold: the performance of cutting-edge research in astronomy and astrophysics, including theory, observation, and experiment, as well as the education of undergraduate and graduate students and training of postdoctoral research associates who will comprise the scientists and leaders of tomorrow. Located in the Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics on the Caltech campus..
* San Diego Astronomy
* Imperial Valley Astronomy

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## Notes

1. ↑ Template:Cite news
2. ↑ California State Park Closures Announced. Roughin.It.
3. ↑ Boucher Hill Lookout.
4. ↑ Camp Palomar Outdoor School – Directions. San Diego Unified School District.

## External links

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* California State Parks: official **Palomar Mountain State Park** website
* Friends of Palomar Mountain State Park
* Palomar Mountain History (book)
* Borrego Springs Chamber of Commerce: Palomar Mountain

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