SKY WATCHING -- Other than a bit of lingering haze from the region's wildfires, the weekend provided picture perfect conditions for watching the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower .
I'm impressed at how many of my Facebook friends were out camping in wild places to get the most from the event. (See photo above by Blake Sommers/Outdoor Flip Photography , who was camped at Revett Lake near Thompson Pass at the Montana-Idaho Border -- Hike 24 in 100 Hikes in the Inland Northwest .)
The higher the elevation and the farther you are from city lights, the better the viewing.
When our kids were young, our family had a tradition of renting one of the area's fire lookouts or at least camping near one for the Perseid event. We'd roll out our sleeping pads on the lookout catwalk and watch the "shooting stars" until we faded away to sleep.
This year, near the Cabinet Mountains Widlerness, I was graced with a view of a meteor entering the earth's atmosphere with a streaming tail of orange that raced directly up the Clark Fork River. It was better than the Olympics closing ceremony.
Here are more photos of the Perseid Meteor Shower from Universe Today readers around the world.
