Dark-Sky Stargazing

There are two thousand stars visible on a good night in most of America’s “dark” places. Out here there are more than four thousand — plus the zodiacal light, airglow, and a Milky Way core bright enough to read a map by. The Owyhee country is one of the largest remaining pools of natural night in the contiguous United States, and Jordan Valley sits inside it. This isn’t a place with a nice view of the stars. This is what the sky actually looks like.

How to do it here

You don’t need a plan, a permit, or equipment. Drive five minutes out of town on any road, kill the headlights, and give your eyes twenty minutes. The Jordan Craters road and the Rome basin are favorite pull-offs; any campsite in the canyonlands doubles as an observatory.

A few pointers:

• Time it to the moon. The week around new moon is the show. A full moon out here is its own spectacle — bright enough to hike by.
• Summer for the core. June–September evenings put the brightest part of the Milky Way high in the south.
• Bring red light. A red headlamp (or taillight-red tape over a white one) preserves your night vision.
• August bonus: the Perseid meteor shower over the Owyhee is unforgettable.

Stay for the night sky

Stargazing is the one Owyhee attraction that starts after dinner, which makes where you sleep part of the experience. Camp under the full sky at Sunny Ridge RV Park on the edge of town, or get a room at the Basque Station and drive ten dark minutes — either way, the show is free and runs all night. See Stay for details.