Brooks Memorial State Park Overview

The park is a Bortle Scale 2, as it is far away from city lights, meaning that it is very dark and can easily view the Milky Way.

Sitting between the pine forests of the Simcoe Mountains and the Columbia River Gorge, Brooks Memorial State Park sits on 682 acres of land. This environmental diversity makes for a stunning park site. The miles of hiking, biking and equestrian trails lead along the Little Klickitat River and up through Ponderosa pine and stands of Oregon white oak. As you gain elevation, you will find yourself in subalpine meadows with a profusion of wildflowers in spring and panoramic views that include Mount Hood to the south.

The park is only 15 miles from the city of Goldendale, which provides a great option for astronomical sightseeing in the area.

Location

• How far outside of Portland? ~128 miles depending on the route taken. This makes the drive around 2 hours depending on traffic and stops.
• Google Maps Location

The entry fee for going to the park is $10.

Overnight Accommodations

The park has 22 standard sites, 23 full-hookup sites, one dump station, one restroom and two showers. A limit of eight people are permitted per site. The maximum site length is 60 feet, and electrical sites have 50 amp hookups. Water is available in hookup sites from mid-April to late October.

Reservations can be made up to 12 months in advance. Recent costs for camping are shown below:

Weather

The current weather forecast and forecast for up to 7 days in the future can be found here.

Current Seeing Conditions/Forecast Charts

The closest Clear Dark Sky site is the Goldendale Observatory, which is 14 miles or an 18 minute drive from the state park.

The chart below is courtesy of Clearoutside.com.

Make sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and make sure to view our other unique astronomy sites such as this one for more places to view astronomy in the Pacific Northwest.