Campground for Visiting the Very Large Array

[MobileJoy]

[MobileJoy]

This campground (Datil Well Recreation Area) is highly recommended. Price is excellent at $5 per night or $2.50 per night if you have a National Parks Senior Pass. It has at least three clean pit toilets, a central water supply, back-in and pull-through sites, roof-over picnic tables at each site with a concrete platform, fire pit, decent privacy, beautiful surroundings, and (believe it or not) wifi access. They don't take reservations and there are over twenty sites. There were several sites available when we got here yesterday. A couple of sites have electricity but these are usually occupied according to the campground host. Sites are not all level and are gravel driveways. Handicapped site is level and poured concrete.

This is what I would call luxurious boondocking!

 

[Katjo]

Great info, thank you!

[MobileJoy]

Here's a photo of one of the radio telescopes from a distance, with people standing at the base for scale:

...and here's a view from one of the trails in the campground:

The road you see is route 60. If you look closely you can see a railroad track crossing the highway and some of the dishes of the array. The dishes are moved between permanent positions using a special rail car. Here's a photo when standing at that junction: