Tour of West Texas, Stage 2 (McDonald Observatory)
The McDonald Observatory is an astronomical observatory located near Fort Davis, Texas. The facility is located on Mount Locke in the Davis Mountains of West Texas, with additional facilities on Mount Fowlkes, approximately 1.3 kilometers (0.81 mi) to the northeast. The observatory is part of the University of Texas at Austin. It is an organized research unit of the College of Natural Sciences. The Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET), dedicated in late 1997, is located on the summit of Mt. Fowlkes at 2,030 m (6,660 ft) above sea level. As of 2019, after upgrades the HET is tied with the Keck Telescopes as the second or third largest telescope in the world.
Region: Texas
City: Fort Davis
Distance: 38.33 km
Elevation Gain: 450 m
Elevation Loss: 612 m
Difficulty: 317 (Easy)
FIETS Index: 0.65 FIETS
Avg Grade: 0.97 %
Max cat climb: 3
Min elevation: 1554 m
Max elevation: 1905 m
Ride Category: Rollers