# Deso Camps Digest including Sunrise/Sunset, Size, Quality, etc



## GeoRon (Jun 24, 2015)

Attached is a pre-release of a Camp Digest for Deso. 

The Digest is ideally suited to viewing on a smartphone where it may accompany you on your river trip.


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## sethlor (Apr 29, 2009)

This is amazing! Is there a key to assist with what I'm looking at? Blue lines and blue arrows, bold horizons and otherwise... Launching on Thursday and would love to take it for a spin! Thanks.


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## GeoRon (Jun 24, 2015)

The Digest should be considered an Appendix to the excellent Rivermap guidebook series. The upper left number in red is obviously the river mile. "s-" is the relative size of each camp on a scale of 1 to 9. "q-" is the relative quality of each camp on a scale of 1 to 9. The size and quality rating is open to debate. The dark blue number on the upper right is the map number in the Rivermap guide on which the camp is plotted and described.

The horizontal blue line at the bottom of the synthetic vista depicts the river between the upstream and downstream mile marker. The down arrow defines the primary direction of the approaching river. The up arrow defines the primary direction of the departing river. 

The boldness/thickness of the horizon line and foreground textures defines relative distances, bolder/thicker being closer fading to thinner in the distance. The bottom graphs plot the distance and elevation of the horizon.

The solar paths are for the twelve months of the year on the 21st of each month. The Sunrise and Sunset table where derived from the intersection of the solar paths with the horizon line which is by definition local(topographic) sunrise and sunset(as opposed to astronomical sunrise/set). I did not split hairs when translating from the graph to the table a time defined as "hour" ' "10's of minutes". I can understand if your guesstimate might differ. If I'm off by more than 10 minutes please let me know.

Please take if for a spin. I am fairly confident of the synthetic vista and with some familiarity you be able to correlate the topographic features between graph and reality. Please understand that the vista and solar paths were computed at the precise coordinate of the Rivermap located campsite, hence, within a campsite the rising or setting time of the sun may vary slightly. I'd love to know how much it vary's from digitally calculated in general. In other words, can crunching the numbers as I have result in useful tool. I look forward to your feedback.

The radial graph on the right illustrates the bird's-eye footprint of the horizon line out to a distance of three miles. The river course and mile markers are also illustrated.


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## kwagunt2001 (Jun 9, 2008)

Very impressive!
Wondering what the bracketed letters {l,H,t,etc} represent. 
Thanks


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## GeoRon (Jun 24, 2015)

Forgot to mention that.
(LW)=Usable only at low water flows. Perhaps even lower the 2k cfs. However, most are usable at 2k. Guaranteed to be a beach style camp with no shade from trees or shelter from the wind.

{t}=Trees are present almost always Cottonwoods providing afternoon shade. Morning shade might be dicey. Some trees may not be large but are strategically located to be usable.

{h}=Camp has hiking potential with usually a trail system visible on high resolution imagery. The hikes in some cases lead to historic or prehistoric antiquities. Some hikes might just be a dry wash that might be of interest.

{w}=Eddy providing excellent frolicking in water such as snorkeling, swimming, etc usually with beach during low mid summer flows when temps are merciless. 

So far such subjective determinations welcome feedback so that they might trend to be objective classifications of camp characteristics.


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## Senor D (May 22, 2018)

Fantastic!


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## sethlor (Apr 29, 2009)

So, we got off yesterday and I didn't look at it once. Sorry. It seems that we easily navigated the camp sites and sun aspect by simply reading the topo map combined with our desired daily mileage. Perhaps, if you had a tighter itinerary (we did 9 days), this tool could be really helpful for pre-planning. We decided our camp each morning with, "let's go this far and see how we feel." Cheers!


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## GeoRon (Jun 24, 2015)

> It seems that we easily navigated the camp sites and sun aspect by simply reading the topo map combined with our desired daily mileage. Perhaps, if you had a tighter itinerary (we did 9 days), this tool could be really helpful for pre-planning. We decided our camp each morning with, "let's go this far and see how we feel." Cheers!


Ya hoo, 9 days! That would be great.

The sunrise/set graphs were originally to be included in a guidebook series similar to Rivermaps. Hard to beat Rivermaps, so now my project is just supplemental to that series.

For myself, I will whip out these graphs now and then on the river to just ponder my surroundings and occasionally to refresh my memory on less frequented rivers. 

I also plan to use them as a foundation to a more robust verbal description of each camps characteristics and recreational opportunities.

In the end, guides and supplements aren't for everyone and may not always be of value. Some folks don't even boat with guides of any type. Perhaps because they know the river so well, perhaps they don't want to be distracted or they just don't believe in diminishing the adventure into the unknown.


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## 3d3vart (Apr 15, 2010)

This is awesome. Excellent work, especially as a supplement/back-up to existing info. If folks prefer digital tools, you can find several excellent an accurate apps that detail sun exposure and sunset/sunrise times and locations. I use Peakfinder for that, but there are many, many other good options, especially those used by photographers.


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## GeoRon (Jun 24, 2015)

I've always wondered about Peakfinder. It has been pointed out to me many times but I've not been able to figure out how to use it without a data connection. 

Also, I've not been able to figure out how to use it to render the fine resolution necessary for say less than 3 mile details produced by processing the 10 meter Digital Elevation Models like in the Camp Digest graphics.

Can you help me better understand Peakfinder with regard to whether it can be used on the river without data connection. I guess I should go and explore the app and determine its potential.


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## 3d3vart (Apr 15, 2010)

GeoRon said:


> I've always wondered about Peakfinder. It has been pointed out to me many times but I've not been able to figure out how to use it without a data connection.
> 
> Also, I've not been able to figure out how to use it to render the fine resolution necessary for say less than 3 mile details produced by processing the 10 meter Digital Elevation Models like in the Camp Digest graphics.
> 
> Can you help me better understand Peakfinder with regard to whether it can be used on the river without data connection. I guess I should go and explore the app and determine its potential.


It has all the same capabilities offline as it does online, as far as I can tell. I've used it for years now, including as an additional tool for field work, and find it highly accurate for sunset/sunrise, and moonset/moonrise locations and times; just point it at the horizon, find the sun line in the west, and it'll show exactly where on the horizon the sun will set and at what time, down to the minute. Obviously, some factors come into play such as tree coverage, etc, but it's the best and easiest tool I've found for this. And as for it's main purpose--identifying peaks--it is incredible.


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## RidgeLivin (Apr 25, 2019)

Wow this is amazing! Thank you! Definitely printing it out for our trip. My wife is always on tent site duty when we arrive at camp while I set up the kitchen. She's really good at finding the spots that will be shaded in the morning. She is going to love this.


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## GeoRon (Jun 24, 2015)

RidgeLivin said:


> Wow this is amazing! Thank you! Definitely printing it out for our trip. My wife is always on tent site duty when we arrive at camp while I set up the kitchen. She's really good at finding the spots that will be shaded in the morning. She is going to love this.


I think, the guide is better suited to defining a camp with a late sunrise. But after thinking about it, she can use the guide to pinpoint where the sun's path will be in the morning so therefore it might helpful identifying where trees will cast shade in the AM.

Once she has identified a spot you might carry a five gallon poly bucket up to the tent site and use a 1 gallon jug with bottom cut out to scoop water and wet down the site before pitching the tent. This cooling of the ground I found to significantly improve tent time overnight by dropping the temp many 10's of degress. Otherwise, the ground pads will trap in the heat in the ground for slow release overnight effectively turning your tent into a dry sauna. It seems to work for me but maybe not everybody.


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## RidgeLivin (Apr 25, 2019)

GeoRon said:


> I think, the guide is better suited to defining a camp with a late sunrise. But after thinking about it, she can use the guide to pinpoint where the sun's path will be in the morning so therefore it might helpful identifying where trees will cast shade in the AM.
> 
> Once she has identified a spot you might carry a five gallon poly bucket up to the tent site and use a 1 gallon jug with bottom cut out to scoop water and wet down the site before pitching the tent. This cooling of the ground I found to significantly improve tent time overnight by dropping the temp many 10's of degress. Otherwise, the ground pads will trap in the heat in the ground for slow release overnight effectively turning your tent into a dry sauna. It seems to work for me but maybe not everybody.


That's a great idea! Evaporational cooling is certainly a friend (as I sit in my non-air-conditioned house designed for passive solar 5 months into working away from the office.) I finally broke down and ordered a mini desktop swamp cooler fan that arrived in the mail earlier this week and I could not be happier with it. Our river trip coolers will also reap the benefit of evaporational cooling as long as we remain diligent enough to keep the cooler towels wet at all times (it's part of the safety talk.)

Yeah, she's really good at finding where the shadows will be cast, so your guide will cerainily be helpful. I need to strike a balance though. Late shade = sleeping in and I'd prefer to get going in the morning to beat the "breeze" (as we were instructed to call it when I was a lifty many years ago.) Thanks again!


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## GeoRon (Jun 24, 2015)

3d3vart said:


> This is awesome. Excellent work, especially as a supplement/back-up to existing info. If folks prefer digital tools, you can find several excellent an accurate apps that detail sun exposure and sunset/sunrise times and locations. I use Peakfinder for that, but there are many, many other good options, especially those used by photographers.


I recently completed a trip thru Dinosaur-Lodore and an extensive analysis of Peakfinder and my campsite PDF. So much to report. To begin. 

I am impressed by Peakfinder. It is amazing that the application and the initial data download can so instantly provide such incredible renderings and usefulness. Coming out the supercomputer world of the 1980's, it is mind boggling the compressibility of data and graphics processing capability of a smart phone. A data connection is not required to render impressive point perspective topographic visualizations and astronomic(solar/lunar) understanding ANYWHERE even as remote as the bowels of Lodore Canyon.

I found minor errors by Peakfinder of solar and lunar paths most likely from the inability of the initial application data download to finely resolve the elevation of the campsite. The application offered finer ability but without a data connection I choose not to accept.

I will continue to provide more analysis later.

Thank you 3d3vart and others for turning me onto Peakfinder. There is no other word than F'in Amazing. With perhaps personal bias, I appreciated my PDF product generally more for reasons I will explain. I loved as a geek to compare and marvel at the moment where I was and what each ability presented to ponder.


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