Arriving Early
Showing Up Early At OSP
While the OSP scheduled activities are Thursday, August 28th through Sunday, August 31st, many people come early and/or stay late to enjoy the darkest skies in the region. However, outside of the scheduled activities days we have only a skeleton staff on site.
However, our permit with the US Forest Service is actually from Monday, August 25th, through Monday, September 1st. If you are on-site outside of these dates you are entirely on your own.
PLEASE NOTE THAT IF YOU ARRIVE EARLY AND PARK IN AN AREA WE NEED FOR OSP OPERATIONS WE WILL ASK YOU TO MOVE. It does take us several days to get everything on-site, setup and running.
IF YOU ARRIVE AFTER DUSK WE ASK THAT YOU PARK AT THE FAR EAST END OF THE AREA FOR THE NIGHT AND NOT DRIVE INTO THE MAIN AREA BEYOND THE "PLEASE DO NOT ENTER" SIGN until after 10am in the morning. Every year there are always some who do not honor the request and drive around the sign and into the main area with their lights on. Other than posting a guard at the entryway we know of no way to keep the jerks out during the quiet hours.
BEFORE MONDAY you are outside of our permit with the USFS and entirely on your own.
MONDAY: This is the start of our permit with the USFS and allows us time to set up for the star party. Today we put up the traffic signs and we mark off the areas for the OSP tents, vendor areas, and specially reserved areas we need for OSP operations. Anyone parked or camped in those areas will be asked to move.
TUESDAY: the Porta-Potties show up as do the large tents.
WEDNESDAY: We organize the tents so that they will be ready to open Thursday morning for the official start of OSP. Mary's Chuckwagon and The Espresso Blast will be up and serving food and drinks by dinnertime. Most of our staff arrives on Wednesday as does the First Aid team. The shower truck shows up late Wednesday but doesn't open for service until Thursday morning.
THURSDAY-SATURDAY: See the schedule for times and activities.
SUNDAY: This is our cleanup and teardown day. The food vendors will be open until lunchtime. Most of the staff and the First Aid team leave today for home.
MONDAY: This is the last day of our USFS permit and today the Porta-Potties get picked up and the large tents are taken down. This is also the day we get to go home and crash for a few weeks until we start planning for next year.
AFTER MONDAY you are outside of our permit with the USFS and entirely on your own.
So please plan accordingly. Outside of the scheduled days of Thursday to Sunday you are pretty much on your own.