Gravel Pit Star Party Travel Directions
Sorry for you folks in SLC, these directions are
written for someone coming up Provo Canyon, but Exit 4
is the same one to take if you are coming from the
other direction:
Drive up Provo Canyon and through Heber as you
normally would to get to Park City; from I-80 take the
Park City/Kamas Exit 4. At the bottom of the exit
ramp, go East (right) towards Kamas. Take this road
for 1.6 miles to the Peoa - Oakley turn-off. This
turn-off will be on your left. You know you are
approaching it because there are several
"Deer-Crossing Ahead" signs. Since the Deer Crossing
is at the turn off, the distances on the signs are
also the distances to the turn-off. This is Browns
Canyon, but the sign says Peoa - Oakley.
Take this road for 4.2 miles, to the Park City Harper
Gravel Pit road and sign on the left. (About 1000 feet
before you get to the gravel pit road, there will be
an orange sign on the right that says "truck entrance
ahead".) At the gravel pit sign, turn in. Watch out
for the speed bump at the entrance! Go about one and
a half miles up this road. There is a "mobile home"
weighing office off to the left. Just after the
office there is a parking area (for the office), which
is where we set up.
Park towards the far side of the parking area, so that
your vehicles are not blocking scopes that are set up
to view towards the South and East, which is where the
best skies are.
This is only a star party. There are no amenities, and
no camping. Let me emphasize, this is not a "spend the
night and camp out" location.
Remember to dress WARMLY! We cannot emphasize this enough. Dress like you want to go
night skiing and you might be comfortable. Hats, gloves, and warm boots are smart
year-round. Keep in mind that you can always leave extra stuff in the car, but if you don't
have enough layers, you'll be sorry!
Please use good star party etiquette; dim headlights
if arriving after dark, and be sure to bring red
lights for wandering between scopes, etc. so you don't
spoil dark-adapted eyes.
Children of all ages are welcome as long as they are supervised and respectful; telescopes and eyepieces can be expensive!