Logan Valley Star Party 'History'

Notes on the history of Logan valley Star Party from John R. Benham:

I was returning from the 2017 Golden State Star Party in Northern California, by Adin. Deciding on a different route back to Spokane, WA, I used US 395. I left on June 25, 2017. After filling up with fuel at Burns, OR, I continued north while climbing the low mountains and arrived at Seneca, OR. The small town lays in a very wide and mile high elevation in an inter-mountain flat valley. Immediately I thought this would be a perfect spot for astronomy due to its wide valley, low horizon and no light pollution. (Google Earth Image)

On September 10, 2017, my wife and I were returning to Spokane from visiting relatives in Bend, OR. My earlier trip through Seneca, OR I noted some charming log cabins one could rent - Bearcat Lodge (photo below). We rented one. That night my wife noted how clear the sky was. I verified that it was an exceptional sky only to reinforce this area would be perfect for a star party.

Back in Spokane, I contacted my close astronomy friend, Chuck Barnard who lives in West Seattle and told him of my find. We have been searching for a good spot to really use the quality of astronomical gear we had. Our philosophy is that no matter what level of gear you have, it is only limited by the sky. Seneca and area appears to have the night sky we so desperately needed.

I researched possible star party locations in an arc around Seneca thinking its one gas station and general store might supply necessary, but limited items for star party attendees. I printed out around 10-12 Google Earth images of possible sites and noted them on USFS Malheur map as to their USFS open land or private.

Chuck and I rented one of the cabins at Seneca for a few days (October-14-17-2017). We radiated out each day and looked at all of the locations. Each had their positive and negative attributes. We finally decided on one located a few miles southeast of Seneca, but with no water or facilities. Fortunately we didn't chose that one since the map was in error and it was on private land! One could imagine the land owner coming up to his open valley land seeing 20-30 astronomers setup and camping!

We drove further on county road 16 to the east. I wanted to turn back and make a final decision. But Chuck wanted to go just a bit further. A few more miles we came across this beautiful and high elevation open and flat valley - Logan Valley. A couple of more miles put us at the entrance to USFS Big Creek Campground which has water and vault toilets. Next to the campground was a wide and flat expanse of grassy field. Virtually no sagebrush or rocks. As noted elsewhere, it lays south of the Strawberry Mountains. So with Chuck's perseverance, we found what we think was a perfect site for a star party.

I had brought my Williams Optics 110 mm refractor on a goto GEM mount. Each night in Seneca we verified the quality of the night skies.

Returning to Spokane, I stopped by Malheur National Forest Headquarters in John day, OR and talked with their recreational director. She said there would be no issues by having our star party at Big Creek Campground. However, if there were more than 75 attendees, we would have to get a special use permit.

Chuck and I decided to have our first Logan Valley Star Party on the new moon in June of 2018. Mainly as a courtesy as not to interfere with other well established star parties. So this year, 2020, is our third annual star party. Although lightly attended (for now), we've had some very serious astro-imagers show up and shared their incredible images.

So this is a summary of how our star party began. Enjoy!

John R. Benham - Chuck Barnard

Logan Valley from Strawberry Mountains - looking southeast.