The Goose Lake Recreation Area is a Bortle 2 scale site with excellent dark skies due to its distance from cities and other light pollution.

Goose Lake State Recreation Area is located on the Oregon-California border, as its grassy expanses make the area a great place for wildlife and astronomy. Goose Lake provides a base from which to explore areas such as Hart Mountain Wildlife Refuge, the 8,500-foot Warner Mountains just east of the park, and the obsidian beds in the Modoc National Forest of northeast California.

Wildlife at the park includes migratory waterfowl abundant in the spring and early summer and mule deer abundant in the morning and evening during late summer and fall.

Location

• How far outside of Portland? ~361 miles depending on the route taken. This make the drive around 6 hours and 22 minute depending on traffic and stops.
• Google Maps Location

Overnight Accommodations

The campground is open May through September and has 42 electrical sites with water (first-come, first-served), and 6 tent sites.

Weather

The current weather can be found here.

Current Seeing Conditions/Forecast Charts

The closest cleardarksky chart provides a forecast/clear dark sky chart is a 66.6 mile drive away, which is not close enough to put on here, but will be linked. This is due to the accuracy not being close enough to reflect the park.

The following clearoutside.com chart will provide a great resource for the skies for those who want to visit.

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.