Cedar Breaks National Monument
The place: We’ve got to give it to our neighboring state. Dark Skies are dominating in Utah— more than a quarter of the nation’s dark parks are in the Beehive State.
Cedar Breaks National Monument in southern Utah was granted an International Dark-sky Park Designation this spring, becoming Utah’s eighth park on the list. If you want to check out the latest Dark Skies monument, it’s a nine-hour road trip from Denver to Brian Head, Utah. In thecedar Breaks park, lush meadows are juxtaposed with the otherworldly crimson hoodoos. The crown jewel is Cedar Breaks itself, perched at 10,000 feet and looking down at a half-mile-deep geologic amphitheater.
Where to stay: In the park at
Point Supreme Campground,
which is open to campers from mid-june to late-september. Reserve at recreation.gov and search “Point Supreme Campground.”
How to stargaze: If you can, line your trip up with a Saturday night, because that’s when the
star parties happen. The parties are held frommemorial Day to Labor Day, and they start at 8:30 p.m. in June and July and 8 p.m. in August. Additional parties are held for special events such as meteor showers or eclipses. You’ll get to peer through telescopes to see celestial wonders like craters and mountain ranges on the moon, the rings of Saturn, star clusters, galaxies and Jupiter’s Galilean moons. When it’s completely dark, rangers will lead laser-powered constellation tours and give talks on the mythology of the heavens. More: nps.gov/ cebr/star-parties.htm.
What to do while you’re waiting for it to get dark:
The Utah Shakespeare Festival takes place in nearby Cedar City. “Romeo and Juliet,” “A Midsummer’snight Dream” and “As You Like It” are among the productions on this year’s calendar. More: bard.org.
Bonus: Other dark sky destinations in Utah are Canyonlands National Park, Dead Horse Point State Park, Natural Bridges National Monument, Hovenweep National Monument, Capitol Reef National Park and North Fork Park of Ogden Valley.
Chaco Culture National Historical Park
The place: Night sky enthusiasts love the lure of Chaco Canyon. In between Albuquerque and Farmington, N.M., this park designated the night sky as a “critical natural resource” in 1993, protecting it from urban light pollution. The park also has its own observatory, the Chaco Observatory.
Where to stay: Thepark is re- mote, and camping is the only lodging offered in the park. Reserve at recreation.gov and search Chaco Culturenational Historical Park. If you don’twant to camp, you can reserve a hotel in one of the nearest cities. Bloomfield, Aztec and Farmington are all about 1 ½
hours away. Santa Fe and Albuquerque are both about 3 hours away.
How to stargaze: The park’s Night Sky Programs happen at sunset on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday evenings frommay 1 to Sept. 30. Park rangers will give
What to do while you’re waiting for it to get dark:
From AD 850 to 1250, Chaco Canyon was the urban center of ancestral Puebloan culture. It was the gathering place for ceremonies, trading and political gatherings. You can tour the ruins, accessing five major sites, including Pueblo Bonito, the most popular ruin in Chaco Canyon. It was once five stories tall and contained 800-some rooms.
Clayton Lake State Park, in the very northeastern tip of Newmexico and close to the Colorado border, also has Dark Sky designation.
Bonus:
Provided by Zion National Park