Hi! My hubby and I are new to the forum. He has been an avid astronomer yet we never knew of the club or spots where other like- minded people gather. We want to find a dark place to camp, have fun, view the night sky. Does anyone have any good suggestions? Oh, do we need to be in a club or have a key to go to Cheddar Ranch? We want to camp for the weekend and have a relaxing good weekend. Thank you!
Welcome,
You do have to be a member of OKCAC in good standing for at least 3 months before you can be a member of Cheddar Ranch (CRO). As a member of CRO you will get a key and door codes. I will leave the camping locations suggestions for others to answer.
Ron M
If you want to camp at Cheddar Ranch Observatory (CRO) for the weekend you would definitely need to join the Club which is $36 a year and also would need to become a CRO member an extra $60 a year. We do have an area setup to use with RV’s. If you wanted to just check out CRO with no camping we do have 2 member nights each month. There is one tomorrow night and we even have an extra one next Saturday.
We also have the Okie-Tex Star Party every year which brings out astronomers from all over the world.
You are welcome to camp overnight at CRO anytime I am there and, I’m staying overnight. The best nights for this are the two Saturday nights per month when we have the observatory open for everyone, these nights are on the calendar as long as you follow all the rules for visitors at the Observatory (no white lights, no fires, no loud music, no crazy behavior etc).
If you like CRO, just join the Astronomy club, it’s affordable and fun and we are a non-profit.
As far as Proper Dark site camping. For me, I like the WMAs of Western Oklahoma. Packsaddle WMA, Sandy Sanders WMA, and Ellis County WMA. To stay overnight and do Astronomy at a WMA, you need a Fishing license. I set up in the mowed “parking/camp” spots. I don’t go out into the “hunting grounds”. I like the WMAs because there are no street lights around, and you can experience the full effect of a dark starry sky with the Milky Way.
3 Likes