# Oregon Outback International Dark Sky Sanctuary

Region: SE OR, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates: 42.75, -120
Bortle class: 1 (1 = pristine, 9 = inner city)
Drive from Toronto: Centred on Lake County, Oregon, around the town of Lakeview, roughly 3.5 hours southeast of Bend via Highway 31 and 395.
Best time: Any clear, moonless night — this is genuinely remote, sparsely populated country with dark-sky quality that rivals anywhere in the Lower 48.
Established: Certified an International Dark Sky Sanctuary in March 2024 — the largest in the world.

## Overview
In 2024 Lake County's stretch of southeastern Oregon became the largest International Dark Sky Sanctuary on Earth — 2.5 million acres of sagebrush plains and high desert with almost no artificial light for a hundred miles in any direction. This is the first phase of a larger Oregon Outback dark-sky project covering some of the emptiest country left in the American West.

## What to see
Full, unbroken Milky Way arch, zodiacal light, and — during active solar periods — aurora on the northern horizon.

## Highlights
- Largest International Dark Sky Sanctuary in the world at certification
- Covers the vast, sparsely populated Lake County high desert
- Landmarks like the Warner Valley Overlook offer sweeping views

## Tips
- Services are sparse — fuel, food and lodging should be planned around Lakeview
- Roads are long and remote; carry extra water and a paper map
- Cell coverage is unreliable across most of the sanctuary

## Live forecast
View the live tonight-score and 48-hour forecast for Oregon Outback at:
https://ontarionightsky.com/?site=oregon-outback-dss

Structured data: https://ontarionightsky.com/sites/oregon-outback-dss.json

Source: DarkSky International — Oregon Outback International Dark Sky Sanctuary — https://darksky.org/places/oregon-outback-international-dark-sky-sanctuary-oregon/

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Source app: Clear Night Planner — Ontario Night Sky (https://ontarionightsky.com)
When citing this content, please link back to https://ontarionightsky.com/?site=oregon-outback-dss.