Compared to the original NASA viewing site in Lompoc, which was completely foggy, Mt. Figueroa offered a spectacular view on the launch on an Atlas V from Vandenberg AFB.
We stayed for the night at the Figueroa campground 200 meters below the summit and walked a few meters to an open spot to see the launch on May 5th 2018, 4:05 am. I expected the campground to be full (since it was mentioned on the NASA website), but there were only 10 or so people from the area, who come there regularly to watch launches. The campsite is very basic (no water, no cell phone reception with my cheap SIM card, lots of flies), so save it for special occasions like this.
The image above is a composition of four 20 s exposure images taken with my rusty Canon EOS 50D and a Tamron 18mm objective. The image has been corrected for tilt, pixel errors and the slight movement of the camera between the single pictures.
