This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Many Wasatch Front residents might not realize it but Great Basin National Park near Baker, Nevada, on the Utah-Nevada border, is one of the closest national parks to reach from Utah's big population areas.
Now there is another reason to visit the park, which offers tours of Lehman Caves, great campgrounds and excellent alpine hiking.
The park is one of the newest sites in the world to be designated an International Dark Sky Park. It was the first in Nevada to earn the designation.
Not only does Great Basin offer dark night skies any time, it also provides visitors an astronomy program with one of the Dark Rangers, allowing visitors to see other galaxies planets and star clusters,
The park features some of the darkest skies in the nation, making it an ideal location for the research class telescope that is being constructed in the park this summer.
"It is wonderful that Great Basin National Park has officially been designated a dark sky park by the International Dark Sky Association," said park superintendent Steven Mietz. "The park has already committed to protecting and interpreting our uniquely dark skies. This designation will help raise our visibility to audiences around the world."
In addition to the new telescope, the park has made improvements to lighting at the Lehman Cave Visitor Center, changing all exterior lights to red lightning to help the dark sky designation by making less light at night.
To learn more about the International Dark Skies Association, go to http://www.darksky.org.