I’ve been nerding out on rocks and stars and astrology for the last few months, even
before all the buzz about the solar eclipse. And while we’re not in the path of totality,
there’s an area of Oregon that has one of the best spots in the world to go stargazing,
and it’s year-round, not once every year or bajillion years or whatever.
Light pollution has been a thing for decades, and Dark Sky International was founded back in 1988 to “preserve and protect the nighttime environment and our heritage of dark skies through environmentally responsible outdoor lighting.”
Just last month, Dark Sky International designated 2.5 million acres in Lake County –
colloquially known as the “Oregon Outback” – a Dark Sky Sanctuary. That makes it the world’s largest sanctuary, and leaders hope to eventually
expand into nearby Harney and Malheur counties, for a total of 11 million acres.*
I didn’t know about any of this back in January, when I signed up for a “Moonlight and Starlight Snowshoe Tour” out of Bend. Which was stupid because I’m uncoordinated, don’t like snow, hate being cold and haven’t snowshoed in 30 years.
I still don’t know why I signed up for it, but as luck would have it, the tour was cancelled
because not enough people had signed up. And in another stroke of good fortune, Lady
Yota's founder Nia Borgelt and her mom, who was in town visiting, had decided this was
a road trip they couldn’t pass up.
One of the things on my Oregon Bucket List is Smith Rock State Park, which is only half an hour from Bend.
We veered off onto a lonely road that led past a farmhouse, where smoke from a
nearby, smoldering fire drifted like fog on a stage. Smith Rock loomed in the
background, rising 600 feet above the river gorge, while clouds darkened with the threat
of rain.
A dirt path leads off from the parking lot, and we walked along it in awe, gazing down at
sagebrush- and pine-filled valleys, and up at sheer rock faces formed by volcanic ash
that hardened 30 million years ago.
I still wanted to see stars, though, so Nia searched around until she found an “In-Depth
Observatory Nighttime Visit” at the Sunriver Nature Center and Observatory. And it was
that night! And it was indoors! Well, kind of.
By 8 p.m., we were standing in the parking lot. We watched as the roof of one of the
buildings slowly opened, then slid back with a mechanical whir, until it was almost
hidden behind the pines silhouetted in the fading light of dusk.
Momma Mina was so cold by that time, she had my heating blanket wrapped around
her shoulders, using the electrical cord as a makeshift belt. Every once in a while, she’d
cast a hopeful glance around the dimly lit room to see if there was an outlet she could
plug into.
Telescopes of all shapes and sizes were set at precise positions throughout the building, each focused on a particular star, planet, nebulae and the moon. I swear I could have reached out and
touched one of the craters, the image was so clear.
Who knows what we would’ve seen on the show shoe trip, but it wouldn’t have been
anything like this.
If you’ve never felt humbled, go to an observatory. Gaze out at an endlessly sparkling
night sky, look at the bright pinpricks of Jupiter and its moons, watch the International
Space Station twinkle as it makes one of its 90-minute rotations around the Earth. That’s 16 sunrises and sunsets. Per day.
Jeez. I wonder how long it takes for their circadian rhythms to get back to normal once
they return to Earth.
If you want to do some star gazing too, we’re headed out on our Oregon Outback trip
April 19-22 and there’s still room. Check it out.
*There are dark sky sanctuaries, parks and reserves in 22 countries on six continents,
including Sunriver and Prineville Reservoir State Park, right here in Oregon! For a full
list, click here. And if you’d like to join for part or all of our upcoming Oregon Outback trip scheduled for April 19-22, be sure to get in touch!
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