The best National Parks for Stargazing, according to a Dark Night expert

According to Rader Lane, a National Park Service Dark Night Ranger in the Grand Canyon, a visit to a Dark Sky Park is “often the unexpected highlight” of many travellers’ trips.

One of the best states for stargazing is Arizona, and within the famous Grand Canyon, Rader recommends heading to the Desert View Watchtower to “capture the historic structure in the foreground and the central bulge of the Milky Way in the background. It makes for incredible photographs.”

Rader’s other favourite spots include Dry Tortugas National Park in Florida where “one will see some of the most pristine night skies in the United States,”, while “Chaco Culture in New Mexico is the best place to stargaze if one desires to feel the pulse of the cultural astronomy of the southwest. It is one the richest archaeo-astronomical sites in the world, one of the darkest places in the country, and the park has its own observatory it uses for public programs.”

Meanwhile, the Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah is “arguably the darkest place in the contiguous United States, virtually free of all light pollution. It is located high on the Colorado Plateau in a dry, remote, juniper-pinyon landscape. This. Place. Is. Dark.”

“The abundance of campground opportunities combined with the relative proximity to large cities like Las Vegas makes Death Valley an easily attainable place to stargaze. It is surrounded by mountains largely shielding the skyglow of Las Vegas and Los Angeles from view” he adds.

For more intrepid travellers, Rader suggests the Great Basin National Park in Nevada. “The night-sky tripper must make a long journey to arrive at one of the most remote parks, but it has some of the most pristine skies. To watch the stars among ancient, gnarled, bristlecone pine trees offers a strong dose of the sublime, in the true sense of the word: a mixture of awe and even fear of the beauty that is, by definition, incomprehensible.”