The certification is not just for Great Basin’s natural darkness, but for the park’s efforts to preserve and promote it as well. “The Milky Way is a scenic splendor that almost everyone everywhere used to share, but now almost no one sees anymore.” “The parks, as they protect the scenic wonders of our country, have almost as an accident preserved our views of the sky overhead at night,” he told me in an email. Tyler Nordgren, the astronomer and night sky ambassador who coined the slogan “half the park is after dark,” recommended Great Basin for dark-sky status, citing its views of the Milky Way, which he described as the finest he had experienced anywhere in the National Park System. With little humidity and almost no light pollution to contend with, visitors are treated to some of the country’s clearest night skies, and in 2016, the International Dark-Sky Association officially recognized Great Basin with an International Dark Sky Park designation. Great Basin owes its famously dark night skies to its isolation, elevation and high-desert climate. Visitors are sometimes surprised to find roads are under snow and not drivable - be sure to check the website for current road conditions and closures beforehand. Great Basin has five rustic campgrounds, most of which are seasonal (open from May to October) and available on a first-come, first-served basis. The tiny town of Baker, Nevada, is much closer - just 5 miles from the park - but the lodging and dining options there are limited. The historic railroad town of Ely, Nevada, lies 66 miles away from the visitor center and offers travelers a choice of hotels, restaurants and other amenities.
Both routes include long, lonely stretches of road, so travelers should prepare accordingly. Driving from Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport, more than 300 miles away, can take nearly five hours. Salt Lake City, the closest city with a major airport, is a 240-mile, four-hour drive from the Lehman Caves Visitor Center. Great Basin’s remote location rewards visitors with solitude and dark night skies - but getting there takes a bit of doing. We were in for a terrific evening - so long as the weather held. Hopeful rangers set up a row of telescopes for viewing planets and deep-sky objects.
As twilight set in, Mars and a scattering of stars shone brightly, peeking through the gaps in the gathering clouds. So it was that we found ourselves among the 250 visitors gathered on blankets and camp chairs in front of the Lehman Caves Visitor Center on the evening of the Perseids’ peak. Time was flying, and if we didn’t steal a little for a father-son outing now, who knows when we’d next have the chance? And this spirited boy - a nature-loving kid who as a toddler would gently pet the bumblebees drawn to our flower beds - was somehow just weeks away from his senior year of high school. I invited my son, Elijah, to join me, knowing he wouldn’t be able to resist an adventure in a park we hadn’t yet been to, especially one where starry nights and ancient bristlecone pines beckoned. Sign up to follow me on Instagram here.The author and his son on the Wheeler Peak Trail camera icon © TODD CHRISTOPHER.Sign up to receive future blog posts here.Reply in the form below if my 1:1 you’re ready for my private coaching and mentoring sessions to support you. Want more good stuff? Sign up for a Coaching & Mentoring Program with me or join a Virtual Retreat! Our big dreams are still out there. And endless possibilities too. Look ahead. Take one step at a time and be kind to yourself and happy with this day’s success – no matter what shape or size it is.
#Endless sky map full#
But I see a big sky full of dreams and an ocean of endless opportunities. It’s taking longer than our plans carved out, yes. Life these days, we are moving through sludge.īut we are still moving. There is no way to see clearly, carrying the uncertainty of what’s coming next, and everything hurts. So many of my travel stories carry this very plot, but usually, I am trekking some volcano or mountain, lost and starving somewhere off the map. It feels as if we are moving through sludge.