Most likely you’ll be down in the Youth Camp area!
Eileen
Thursday - Joe and I are out at BMSP.
Check in for volunteers will be at any of these 3 sites:
- Camp Store
- Camp Office
- Youth Camp Office
Polly can give you a choice of spots around the Youth Camp. Clean Showers and restrooms are available in the Youth Camp and the Main Camp. Red lighting is available!
All activities are planned at the Youth Camp area outside the Main Building.
Rain is not in the forecast but wind and cold temps are the norm out here. Bring your winter coat, longjohns, hats and 
! 152 folks have registered. We’ll see who shows up! The park looks great!
Thank you to those who sent donations of equipment to Polly. She’s used every bit of it! Will take and post pictures!
Eileen
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Boy it was windy last night! It lasted right upto around 11 pm. Unfortunately I was so exhausted from the days travel and getting camp setup, I did not stay awake for overnight viewing. But I was up around 2 AM and sat outside for a short bit just gazing up at nothing in particular, BEAUTIFUL!
They done a great job out here making this a perfect place thor astronomy.
I will be setting up for solar viewing this afternoon and staying setup for the evening as well, unless the wind changes things, but I don’t think it will. Somewhere around 4 AM sunday morning the wind will begin to pickup again. I just hope it doesn’t make it too difficult to pack up camp!
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It was a very windy night on Friday the 17th, however, it really calmed down by 2:30am local time there. I got up at 4am and captured the milky way with my iPhone 12.
Randy
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This past weekend was very fun. They had a great turn out. It’s unfortunate that Friday was so windy, but Saturday more than made up for it.
This is just a general shot looking westward.
Truth be told, I’ve never seen so many stars!
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Thanks, Randy!
Thanks also to Joel, Kenny, Chris Petroff, Joe G., and the park staff for hosting this first event to celebrate DSI designation. All the head managers from Tourism & Recreation came out including Naturalists and park managers from several other State Parks! We were behind the dryline so we missed the storms. As Randy said, Friday night had the cold front pass through and the high wind gusts kept us from setting up scopes. Chris saved the evening by setting up internet so Polly could present her talk to the group who filled the Main Building at the Group Camp.
However, several of us led 4 am - 6 am treks to see the Milky Way early Saturday morning. I learned the gals with me we’re journalists from KOSU. Go, Pokes!
Kenny gave quick cell phone lessons in the dark to a group of 6 of us willing to brave the cold. Saturday was a simply perfect day! I’ll share more another time.
We had a few workshops during the daytime. But the evening was perfect skies. Amarillo Astronomy Club brought out some BIG Obsessions! Great team from there! Chris was kept busy with our OKCAC Astro Club scopes we donated to BMSP over the past several years thanks to Mr. Beatty and Co. Joel and Kenny had a constant stream of guests. I did Sky ID. I was up with a group of OSU guys and Stillwater buddies until almost 2 am. They had rented a Celestron CS telescope from the Stillwater Library! Chris also helped them. They were on a Mission to view the Milky Way and Galactic Center.
We’ll post more later this week or in the Gazer’s Gazette! The head honcho’s from OK Dept. Of Tourism & Recreation were impressed & kept thanking us!
Park Staff and T&R fed us all weekend! Polly makes a great Green Bean Chicken Chili.
Also a BIG shoutout to my hubby, Joe G. He led mist netting of birds expeditions/Bird Walks Saturday & Sunday AM and totally blew away all participants with his knowledge! Getting to hold a small bird in your hands and listen to the heartbeat melts anyone who experiences this. Thanks, Joe.
Thanks, again, to our OKC AC team of volunteers. You’re the best. Mitche, we missed you but get those eyes healed first! Processing: IMG_9283.jpeg…
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More to come!
Tonight we’re surrounded by a flock
of turkeys roosting in the nearby trees. After moonset, I’m heading out to collect SQM data for Polly! Today the wind was fierce again but it’s warmer!
Eileen
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Thanks for the updates, everyone! I was really looking forward to being there, but not going was the right call. My eye went from perfect focus to very blurry all weekend. My surgeon assured me that was normal and should settle down over the next two weeks. It would have been a very big strain on both eyes though, if I’d tried to drive that far. Plus I need to be in a dust free environment for a bit, too.
But it sounds like it was a successful weekend!
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Joel that looks like zodiacal lights.
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Don’t think so. On site it was clearly the GC.