Dark Skies
We’ve made so many advances in our modern world, and made so many gains. But we’ve lost a few things too. If you live in a city or other heavily developed area, then you probably don’t get much of a chance to see the stars. Which is a shame. Stargazing is (to us at the Lodge, at least) one of the great joys of life. But in an urban area, there is just too much light pollution to see what’s going on up there. Luckily, there are plenty of places that you can travel to for a chance to see the night sky in all its splendor.
Photo by Aaron Roth via unsplash.com
Meet the IDA
The International Dark-Sky Association is a non-profit organization that helps protect places from light pollution. If a location – say, a national park – meets certain requirements to promote dark skies, then it can be certified by the IDA. And there’s nowhere like Southern Utah to see the night sky. It has the largest concentration of official Dark Sky Places in the world. (And it’s also where the first location was designated, at Natural Bridges.) So if you want to reconnect with the stars, then we can’t think of a better place.
Photo by Septumia Jacobson via unsplash.com
Here’s the List
You’ll be able to experience truly dark skies at all of these locations in Southern Utah. If you want to know more about any of the locations, just click on the link. We’ve written about most of these places before.
- Arches National Park
- Canyonlands National Park
- Dead Horse Point State Park
- Natural Bridges National Monument (First in the World!)
- Hovenweep National Monument
- Rainbow Bridge National Monument
- Capitol Reef National Park (Hey! That’s by us!)
- Bryce Canyon National Park
- Goblin Valley State Park
- Cedar Breaks National Monument
- The Town of Torrey (Also us!)
Also, if you want to hear from the experts at visitutah.com, then check out their info on the amazing Dark Sky Places of Utah here.