Medicine Rocks State Park International Dark Sky Sanctuary

Medicine Rocks State Park is a 330 acre park at 1141 Highway 7 near Ekalaka, in Carter County, southeast Montana. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks calls it the state's first International Dark Sky Sanctuary. DarkSky International announced the designation in 2020. The park sits at 3,379 feet and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The sandstone pillars are the foreground here. FWP describes soft rock weathered into a Swiss cheese look, with inscriptions dating back centuries. Theodore Roosevelt visited as a young rancher in the late 1800s and praised the place. Mule deer and antelope live in the park.

Sanctuary status needs a sky routinely at or darker than 21.5 magnitudes per square arcsecond. DarkSky reports that Carter County Museum director Sabre Moore measured the sky over two years and found the park exceeded that mark. Our light pollution map estimates Bortle 2.

Day use runs from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., so camping is the way to shoot after dark. FWP lists 8 first come, first served campsites and one reservable group site, open all year, at $4 to $34 a night. Drinking water is available year round. Montana residents pay no day use fee, while nonresidents pay $8 per vehicle.

In our data May gives the most core hours, followed by July and April. The core peaks about 15 degrees above the southern horizon at this latitude, so pick a pillar framing with an open view to the south.