Barcroft Station

Barcroft Station, July 2021. Photo by Gaylene Kinzy.

Geolocation: 37°34’59” N / 118°14’14” W
Elevation: 3800m (12,470’)

Barcroft Station is open from about June 1 – October 31, weather and snow permitting.

Barcroft can house up to 20 people in comfortable dorms. Three labs are available for visiting research scientists and their students, and the station has wireless internet access. The Barcroft Station is off-grid and most power is generated from rooftop solar photovoltaic panels.

Upstairs in the main building is a multipurpose classroom and living room area and recreational facilities.

It was constructed in 1951 at an elevation of 3800 m (12,470′) in the White Mountains. The station has been the site of much research in the physiological effects of high elevation, and was also used for a decade by Noble laureate, George Smoot, for research in cosmic background radiation.

The facilities at Barcroft include the Nello Pace Laboratory, which is the main station building, several nearby outbuildings housing research projects, the observatory dome which is 1/2 mile to the north up on Barcroft Plateau, and the well and pond which provide water for the station.

Five miles to the north, on White Mountain Peak, is the summit laboratory. The lands to the north and east of the observatory, running all the way up to White Mountain Peak, are part of the designated McAfee Meadow Research Natural Area.