In February 2020, The Headwaters Alliance, San Luis Valley Museum Association, Huerfano County Tourism Board, and Custer County Tourism Board launched Colorado Stargazing: Experience the Night, a self-guided stargazing tour found at www.Colorado.com/ColoradoStargazing.
Colorado Stargazing: Experience the Night connects seven Colorado locations known for their dark skies and incredible stargazing opportunities. Not only does the Colorado.com webpage offer a map and a brief description of each location included in the experience, it also offers the best places to see the stars, stargazing events, and top daytime attractions. Additional information is also available in the media kit, which can be downloaded from www.Colorado.com/ColoradoStargazing.
Among the locations, visitors will find International Dark-Sky Association Designated Communities, areas just starting the designation process, and everything in between. All of these communities are unified by their high elevation and low humidity, allowing for some of the best stargazing in the world. The locations included in the experience are Westcliffe/Silver Cliff, Creede, Crestone, La Veta, Cuchara, Lake City, and the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.
“Westcliffe and Silver Cliff are proud to be Colorado’s first Dark Sky Community. We embrace the darkness of the night and greatly appreciate our starry nights as a treasure that twinkles high overhead in the Wet Mountain Valley,” says Deb Adams of the Custer County Tourism Board.
The idea for Colorado Stargazing: Experience the Night was born during a Colorado Rural Academy for Tourism (CRAFT) session in Alamosa in early 2019 when stargazing was identified as new, interesting, and having the highest potential for economic and environmental impact.
“The day and night skies are the crown jewels of the Mystic San Luis Valley. The towering white clouds, the expansive views combined with the intense blue skies of the day are breathtaking. The star-laden night skies are beyond belief providing an unparalleled immersive natural resource to be experienced through its stars, and constellations of our past, our now, and our future,” says Kat Olance, San Luis Valley Museum Association.
The goal for everyone involved with Colorado Stargazing: Experience the Night is to encourage travelers to visit as many of the Colorado Stargazing locations as time allows while also promoting environmental stewardship and conservation.
Learn more at www.colorado.com/coloradostargazing.
