Central Idaho Dark Sky Reserve

Dark Sky Reserve · Stanley, Idaho

Fourteen hundred and sixteen square miles of central Idaho designated by the International Dark-Sky Association on 18 December 2017 as the first gold-tier dark sky preserve in the United States. It covers the Sawtooth National Recreation Area and the valley communities below it, including Ketchum and Sun Valley, and its core runs along State Highway 75 in the Sawtooth Valley between Redfish Lake and Pettit Lake. Ketchum passed a dark sky ordinance in 1999, eighteen years before the designation, which is why there was a sky left to certify.

Idaho State Highway 75, Stanley, Idaho, 83278, United States

Open every night of the year, FREE, with no gate, no permit and no fee. It is a designation over 1,416 square miles rather than a site - THERE IS NO VISITOR CENTRE, NO OBSERVATORY AND NO TELESCOPE inside the reserve. The core is roadside: State Highway 75 in the Sawtooth Valley between Redfish Lake and Pettit Lake, which is open and ploughed year round but ⚠ CLOSES FOR AVALANCHE CONTROL AT GALENA SUMMIT to the south at short notice. Forest Service campgrounds along the valley are seasonal and book months ahead for summer. Seasonal astronomy events run out of Ketchum, Sun Valley and Stanley rather than from a fixed site.

Official website

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