Browns Canyon
National Monument

Dark Sky Park

DarkSky International certified Browns Canyon National Monument as a Dark Sky Park in December 2024. It is the only Dark Sky Park east of the Continental Divide that is not part of the National Park System. The National Monument’s location – 100 miles from the nearest large city, at elevations ranging from 7,300 to 10,000 feet above sea level, and situated in a dry climate – makes it ideal for night sky viewing. Browns Canyon Dark Sky Park resulted from a collaboration among Friends of Browns Canyon, the BLM, the U.S. Forest Service, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

Stretched between the communities of Buena Vista and Salida in Central Colorado, Browns Canyon National Monument covers more than 20,000 acres of rugged canyons with picturesque rock formations and backcountry forests of ponderosas, aspens and pinyons adjacent to the gold-medal trout fishery and destination whitewater of the Arkansas River. Browns Canyon is open to hikers, horseback riders, and wildlife enthusiasts (look for the herds of bighorn sheep) in addition to rafters, kayakers, and anglers. The Sawatch Range of the Rocky Mountains, home to some of the highest peaks in the state, or “14ers” as the locals call them, are within view across the Arkansas Valley.

Ruby Mountain and Hecla Junction campgrounds, part of the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area, (accessible off of Highway 285 and available by reservation) provide excellent Dark Sky viewing opportunities with fantastic reflections of the Milky Way over the Arkansas River on moonless summer nights. if you happen to look down during a new moon in summer, take delight in experiencing an area dark enough to produce your shadow cast by the light of the Milky Way. Summer stargazing programs are sponsored by Friends of Browns Canyon.

In addition to the designated campgrounds off Highway 285, dispersed campsites along Aspen Ridge Road (FS185), the eastern boundary of Browns Canyon NM, provide excellent Dark Sky viewing. Cell service is spotty throughout BCNM so bring offline versions of maps and stargazing tools.

Every summer, Friends of Brown’s Canyon hosts free public events during which participants have the chance to learn about and observe the night sky. Events vary from naked eye identification of constellations to professionally led workshops on how to photograph the Milky Way. Several telescopes are available at every event to give viewers the chance to see a variety of objects and celestial bodies. Past events have ranged from identifying and observing craters on the moon, seeing the belts and moons of Jupiter, taking delight in Saturn’s rings, and even delving into the fabric of deep space to bear witness to nebulae (giant clouds of gas), globular clusters (mass groupings of stars that can group into the hundreds of thousands), and distant galaxies.

The best time of year to visit Brown’s Canyon is from May to November. With an elevation of 7000 feet or more, it can get chilly during summer evenings, and even colder during spring and fall, so dress appropriately and pack extra layers or a blanket to maximize your comfort. And if the summer evening starts cloudy, don’t fret because the sky often clears in this arid environment as the night goes on, bringing out the stars once again.