Let's Explore Oregon outback Dark Sky Sanctuary (Family Friendly)

This is a wilderness trip which requires you to be self-sufficient and self-reliant. We will be together most of the time during this outing. Exception is the day-trips to available scramble options in the surrounding nearby mountains.

This event is family and kid-friendly. Join the waitlist to be confirmed.

About Dark Sky Sanctuary:
The Oregon Outback Dark Sky Network (ODSN) has completed the first phase of a multi-phased project to establish a landscape-level International Dark Sky Sanctuary within the largest, contiguous dark sky zone in the lower 48 United States.

This is a high desert area characterized by sage scrub and abrupt changes in topography that alternates between narrow faulted mountain chains and flat, arid valleys and basins. Within this unique geography of geological wonders is priority habitat for an array of wildlife, including American pronghorn, bighorn sheep, sage grouse, white-tailed jackrabbits, and migratory birds navigating the Pacific Flyway (. The region is also culturally significant and is home to a 13,000-year-old human occupation site. Dispersed within the Oregon Outback are hot springs, wild horses, private rangelands, ranches, and lots of cattle.

More information here
And here
Summer Lake Information

Let's explore this beautiful and out of this world frontier for a few unforgettable evenings where space meets earth on the horizon!
Whether you’re a star-gazing enthusiast, a photographer, seeking meditation and solitude, a science lover, or just looking for a unique night out, this trip is a truly unique experience in one of the most serene and pristine environments on the planet.

The Plan:

• Leave the Seattle area Tuesday Aug 12 around 11am
• Drive down to Summer Lake in Oregon (see directions below)
• Set up campsites or car-camping
• Drive back on Friday Aug 15 around 1pm

Carpooling will be coordinated from the Park and Ride before we leave the Seattle area.

Short excursions and hikes:
Multiple short daily and evening excursions are planned for this trip. We will firm up the plans as a team. Here are some activity ideas/options:

• Winter Ridge Hike, right above Summer Lake
• Hager Mountain, a challenging mountain that climbs to a Lookout (4 miles and 2200 feet gain to the summit at 7188 feet)
• Summer Lake Hot Springs
• Dark skies viewing
• Summer Lake Wildlife Area- We may experience the start of fall migration (all manner of shorebirds and waterfoul, from tundra swans to western sandpipers to sandhill cranes)
• Fort Rock- hiking and scrambling + Cave Tours and/or Stargazing
  I will have a few copies of stargazing permits to handout
• Prineville Reservoir State Park, Prineville, OR 97754

Directions to Summer Lake:
41777 Oregon 31 Mile Marker, 92, Summer Lake, OR 97640

Follow I-5 S, US-26 E and US-97 S to OR-31 S
Follow OR-31 S to the destination in Lake County
https://maps.app.goo.gl/pMeEXkUmtGUySZgE9

We will camp near the resort area.