Dee Wright Observatory Old Mckenzie Highway Oregon

 

McKenzie Highway (242) and you will find the unusual and historic Dee Wright Observatory settled atop vast, black lava flows.

Located in the Cascade Range at 5,187 feet, this mountain observatory offers panoramic views across 65 square miles of black lava rock that looks so much like a moonscape

 Completed in 1935 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the observatory was named in memory of Dee Wright, the crew’s foreman who passed away the year before

As you make your way up to the observatory, you will find interpretive panels with accounts of early travelers and area geology. Continue up the stairs to the roof and you will discover a bronze peak finder with the names and elevations of the surrounding buttes and mountain peaks. Inside the observatory, openings frame the surrounding mountain peaks.

NASA conducted drills with astronauts as they prepared to travel to the moon

Access is dependent on McKenzie Highway (OR Hwy 242), which is closed in the winter.

Was Very Windy on Top of the Dome,  Blew my Hat Off,  Jovi Started to Make His Way Down to Guard My Hat 

On a clear day, you can view Mt. Washington, Mt. Jefferson, the South, North, and Middle Sister, and even see Mt. Hood, 78.5 miles to the north. If the snow has melted, don’t forget to look for the glaciers! Collier glacier on the North Sister is the largest glacier in Oregon.