Trip Report: OSP 2006

TACos,

I returned Sunday from the Oregon Star Party. It was my first OSP.
Not as exciting as Oz, but here's a little trip report. OR to follow.

Unlike my trip earlier in this year, in which I headed for the Texas
Star Party and never made it, this time I really did get to OSP. But
there were similarities.

To start with, I didn't do enough prep. I printed out some driving
directions, but I didn't really look at them (or at a map), other than
to notice that it was going to be a long drive. So I planned on 2
days.

Now OSP is nominally 3 nights (Thursday through Saturday), although a
lot of people go early to get the best spots. But I couldn't really
get away before Wednesday and had to be back Monday or Tuesday. So it
looked like four driving days, two in each direction, for only three
nights at OSP. Not a good ratio.

To improve the ratio, I decided that the thing to do was to observe
somewhere about 1/2 way there on Wednesday night and do the same on my
return trip. Where? Shingletown seemed like a good bet, although it
wasn't quite 1/2 way.

But I had a dilemma -- how late to observe at Shingletown before the
long drive on Thursday? I knew from my minimal research that I had to
arrive at OSP by 7:00 PM or spend the night in the "late arrival" area.
 One of the on-line map servers said it would take 9+ hours (although
that turned out to be an over-estimate), so I knew I couldn't observe
too late.

Then I made the "mistake" of looking at the weather reports -- it would
be a fine night Wednesday at Shingletown, but very "iffy" Thursday
night at OSP, then improving Friday and Saturday. So I made up my mind
to observe late at Shingletown, sleep late Thursday morning, and blow
off Thursday night -- just get to a motel in Bend and go to OSP early
on Friday.

So I drove Wednesday to Shingletown and set up to observe at the
airport that night. There was one other fellow there -- Mike House, an
observer from San Francisco. So we shared the runway. It was nice to
have an observing companion. Conditions were fine at Shingletown. My
plan was working fine, so far.

Thursday morning, I re-checked the weather reports -- no change -- but
I also decided that perhaps I'd better look at an Oregon map. Wow!
Shoulda done that a week earlier. I was going to drive right past
Crater Lake; can't miss that detour! Then I checked the Thursday
night weather report for Crater Lake -- looked perfect. So I had a new
plan -- drive to Crater Lake, observe there Thursday night, and head to
OSP early Friday.

Crater Lake was beautiful. I found a turn-out on the East rim road and
set up there just before sunset. Turns out, I picked a great spot.
I was worried about car headlights passing by, but there were none.
The skies were clear and dark. I had a nice night, and I was glad I
made the detour.

Friday I drove to OSP. The first part of the drive was slow -- Hwy 97
is a 2-lane road, with a 55MPH speed limit. I felt like I was on some
kind of geometric progression driving plan. I drove not quite 1/2 way
to OSP on Wednesday (to Shingletown) and then about 1/2 of the
remaining distance on Thursday to Crater Lake. Would I be able to get
all the way to OSP, or was I doomed to stop 1/2 way again? Better not
check the weather again, just drive.

The last hour drive, from Prineville up to the Ochoco plateau, was
beautiful and peaceful.
I made it to OSP around 2:30 PM and set up camp. It was quite windy,
and setting up my tent between the gusts temporally and between the
sagebrush clumps spatially was a bit of a challenge, but I finally
wrestled it down and staked it well. There were lots of puffy white
clouds, but they cleared over the course of the afternoon, and it was
perfectly clear shortly after a beautiful sunset.

I observed Friday night and Saturday night at OSP. Skies were fine
both nights. Sunday I packed up and drove home. I had originally
planned another 2-day drive with an observing stop at Shingletown
again. But I had had four good nights, and decided to drive all the
way home. In retrospect, that wasn't a good decision -- I should have
stuck with the original plan. The 12.5 hour drive was very tough after
not a full night of sleep.

OK, what about OSP? Well, it is big. The area is big in size, and
there are a lot of people -- 700 this year was the report I heard. But
it is well organized, with lots of volunteers, lots of activities, and
things seemed to run pretty smoothly.

I enjoyed it, although I was there only 2 nights. The skies were dark
-- but perhaps only a tiny bit darker than at Shingletown, and
comparable to those at Bumpass Hell. The seeing was very good both
nights, so I'd have to rate that as an improvement (although based on a
small sample). (BTW: the skies at Crater Lake were about the same --
good and dark, with good seeing.)

Would I go again? Well, maybe. It is a very long drive; to make it
pay off, you have to make it a long trip. And I definitely recommend
the plan of driving 1/2 way and observing on the extra night, even
though I followed that advice on only one end of the trip.

I'm certainly glad I went at least once, and I might go again, but I
won't feel compelled to go every year, as I do for both SSP and
Calstar. The skies just aren't that much better, and the drive is
certainly way longer.

Looking forward to a shorter drive to Calstar. Hope to see you there!

Cheers, Bob J.

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