The airport on San Nicolas Island was closed this Saturday, and the weather was nice, so I took the bike out for a ride. The ASOS weather station was getting a major renovation this weekend, with new instruments being installed. The metal supports and instrumentation tend to corrode out here much faster than most places due to the strong winds and salty ocean spray. The guy in charge of the ASOS work said that it took three times longer than usual to remove the old ASOS instruments and supports. The wind tower was horizontal when I arrived, but soon they were putting weights into the bottom of the post and then rotating it to vertical. Those little round weights that you can see stacked up on the pickup truck weigh about 55 pounds each!
Since the airport was closed, I figured it was a good time to poke around the eastern end of the runway! I got a good look at the wind sock and the giant number 30. A really short ride to the north of the runway afforded a good view of the north-side coastline and the water plant.
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