Death Valley National Park International Dark Sky Park

Death Valley is the largest national park in the lower 48 states, about 3.4 million acres across eastern California and a corner of Nevada. The International Dark-Sky Association (now DarkSky International) certified it as an International Dark Sky Park in 2013 at the Gold Tier, the third in the National Park System. Light pollution data puts our estimate at Bortle 2. DarkSky notes that glow from Las Vegas and other distant cities still reaches the park's skies, so check which way your frame points.

The park is open 24 hours a day all year. The vehicle pass is $30 for seven days. Rangers suggest Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, Harmony Borax Works, Badwater Basin and Ubehebe Crater for stargazing. The NPS says astrophotographers often pick Zabriskie Point, the Mesquite Flat dunes or Harmony Borax Works. You can park on the roadside to photograph, but you can't camp there. The NPS also warns that low spots like Badwater Basin, 282 feet below sea level, lose part of the sky behind the mountains. Open ground with some elevation shows more of it.

The Milky Way core peaks around 25 degrees above the southern horizon, and our data gives June, May and July the most core hours. Those are hard months to be here. Summer highs often pass 120F in the shade and overnight lows can stay in the 90s, so shoot spring or the cooler edges of the season if you can. Winter is when rangers run night sky programs and when the park holds its annual Dark Sky Festival with NASA and other partners. There is no cell service on most park roads, and Furnace Creek is the only campground that takes reservations, from mid-October to mid-April.