By Jeff Pfaller
Ready to see how amazing dark skies can be? Let’s talk about how you can have an unforgettable experience.
First, remember—the wilderness is wild. You will be alone and in the dark. The park will have less staff on hand.
Your safety is your responsibility.
Here are things you should do to be prepared.
Make a nighttime safety kit
Bring these items with you in your car or your backpack:
- Headlamp with a red light so you can see in the dark without disturbing nature
- Extra water
- Snacks and food
- Warm layers—the desert can get deceptively cold at night
- First aid kit—include a snake bite kit
- Roadside assistance kit
- Park map
- A compass, if you know how to use it
- Ideally, take a satellite phone. Your cell phone likely won’t work.
Share your itinerary
Tell someone where and when you plan to go. Give them an estimated return time and check in. If you miss that check in, they will know to call for help.
Be aware of wildlife
Big Bend National Park has a diversity of wild animals, including Mexican black bears, mountain lions, coyotes, javelinas, and venomous snakes and scorpions.
These animals are usually dangerous only if provoked, so keep a good distance if you see them (at least 50 yards). Stay away from caves and other hiding places. Make noise to prevent surprising wildlife. Avoiding contact is the most important safety precaution you can take.
Inform yourself
Check the park’s alerts and notifications to see if there are any things you need to be aware of.
Check the forecast so you don’t get caught unprepared in inclement weather.
Use trails and stay on the path
Big Bend has uneven terrain and cacti, it’s easy to sprain an ankle or run directly into a Kingcup cactus if you’re not careful.
Unless you are experienced and well-prepared to venture off trail at night, stay on pavement or on marked trails and pay attention to the tread. If you feel like you’re wandering off trail, don’t panic. Take a moment to think, check your map, and look around the landscape. Sometimes, the best course of action is staying where you are instead of aimlessly wandering the desert.
Know yourself
When you’re uncomfortable, listen to your instincts. If this is your first time in the wild after dark, err on the side of caution. Nothing ruins a beautiful night outdoors like an emergency or getting hurt.
Stargazing from a trailhead is just as awe inspiring as camping out in the bush.
For most places on the following list, you don’t have to leave the parking lot. This makes it a good choice for families with children. If it’s your first time being out in the dark in the middle of nowhere, you can stay close to the comfort of your car and still enjoy the night sky.
Dark Sky Viewing for Photographers and Non-Photographers
A common question I get asked about nighttime photography is, “Does it really look like that?” or “If I’m not a photographer, is it worth it?”
While the short answer is, “Sometimes, no,” the long answer is more complicated and nuanced.
Human eyes aren’t well suited for seeing in darkness. Color is even more challenging for us to pick out. It’s one of the first parts of our nighttime vision to leave us as we age.
Stars represent some of the faintest light that exists in the night sky.
Cameras help us close that gap. They can take in minutes, even hours worth of light to reveal phenomena and wonders that are invisible to the naked eye. Colors become more vibrant.
Here are some side-by-side comparisons of how the Milky Way looks to the naked eye versus pictures taken by a camera:
So to answer the question, “Should you try to see dark skies if you don’t have a camera?”
A resounding “Yes!” You will be able to see, hear, smell, and experience a whole spectrum of new sights and sensations. No camera required.
Where to see and photograph the stars in Big Bend National Park
Santa Elena Canyon Overlook
Santa Elena Canyon is an iconic spot in Big Bend, but we love it because the viewpoints that face it look south. Which means that it’s not just a beautiful location during the way, but also a top tier Milky Way foreground at night.
Between March and September, with summer being the peak season, the most visible part of the galactic center of the Milky Way rises over the canyon, creating amazing photo opportunities.
Download a planning app like Photopills or Photographer’s Ephemeris to plot your shot during the day and head out at night.
Camera settings:
Aperture: Wide open, ideally F2.8 or lower
ISO: 1600 or 3200
Shutter speed: 10-13s
Focal length: 20-30mm
Advanced tip: Shoot your foreground during blue hour, when there is still light to illuminate Santa Elena Canyon. Photograph the Milky Way when it gets into position for your composition and stitch them together in Photoshop.
Lower Burro Mesa Pouroff Trailhead
If the Milky Way is south, another trail to beautiful night sky photos is to the north. That’s right, we’re talking about star trails.
You’ve probably seen plenty of these striking, swirling shots that reveal the movement of the night sky as it rotates around the North Star. You can see the streaking arcs with relatively short exposure times, but to really create the effect you should plan on being out there for at least an hour.
Luckily, this gives you time to experience what night in the desert is like. Dark skies aren’t just about the sights. You’ll hear things in the quiet: animals rustling across the sand, coyotes yipping as they emerge from their den, maybe even the sound of your own heartbeat as the waking world goes dormant.
Lower Burro Mesa Pouroff trailhead looks north over the titular plateau. Layers of rock rise above the desert, creating an undulating horizon line and interesting foreground to capture the stars swirling above it.
Camera settings:
Turn off long exposure noise reduction
Aperture: Wide open, ideally F2.8 or lower
ISO: 400 to 1600
Shutter speed: 30s and stack multiple photos in Photoshop or bulb mode with a remote shutter for a single long shot
Focal length: 30mm or lower
Basin Road between Lost Mine Trailhead and Chisos Mountain Lodge Parking
If star trails sound lovely to you, there’s a little pulloff around the first bend as you leave Chisos Mountain Lodge parking and head toward Lost Mine Trailhead on Basin Road. There’s only room for a car or two, but you can stop and capture a swirl of stars over the Chisos Mountains, one of Big Bend National Park’s iconic features. Be cautious parking anywhere else could be very dangerous on that narrow, winding road, especially in the dark.
Depending on how busy the campground is, you’ll get to experience a common frustration of photographers—figuring out how to get good photos when headlights, headlamps, and other man-made light sources impact your shot.
It’s a good reminder of good dark sky habits:
- Only use light when you need it, turn it off when you don’t.
- Use a red-light headlamp to minimize impact on wildlife and people.
- Avoid using bright cell phone screens
Not only will these habits ingratiate you with your fellow night-sky enthusiasts, you’ll be making the flora and fauna around you happy.
Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive
As you learn more about astrophotography, you’ll quickly learn a major challenge is finding interesting compositions.
Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive has no shortage of opportunities. It’s a 30-plus mile drive that skirts to the west of the Chisos Mountains, which make the perfect craggy backdrop. You can find unlimited angles, cacti, and rock formations to line up your shot.
The most interesting photos to be had here are of moonrise. Check the local times, and then use an AR app like Photopills or Photographer’s Ephemeris to figure out where the moon will come up. Grab a telephoto lens, ideally something 300mm or longer.
Using a big zoom brings the foreground and background closer together. For moon photos, this makes it appear much larger than it is. You can capture some stunning images of it hanging in the sky just above the detailed mountain horizon.
You’ll have to be ready. For something that moves so slow, the moon moves frustratingly fast. Get your settings dialed in with some practice shots on the moon elsewhere. Be prepared to use your legs to move when our lunar companion emerges. Zoomed in, you’ll have precious little time to capture that giant silvery disc so close to the ridgeline.
Balanced Rock
If you’re adventurous, comfortable being out on trail in the dark, and make safety preparations (extra water, compass, headlamp, etc.), head out to Balanced Rock in Big Bend for an epic view of the Milky Way rising behind a leaning rock formation. The last part of the trail is steep and not well marked, so this is not for everyone.
It’s a little over 2 miles round trip and ends at the titular trio of leaning rocks. They create a window that feels like it could collapse at the slightest touch. Because the trail ends in a southward facing view, you can place this folly of nature in the foreground and then photograph the galactic center of the Milky Way rising behind it, depending on the time of year and night.
You’re even more likely to have the place to yourself and will have all the time in the world to experiment with things like light painting, watching for shooting stars, or just enjoying the quiet of the night sky.
Want to help protect dark skies in Big Bend National Park?
Keep Big Bend Wild’s goal is to assure permanent protection from development and the inevitable lights that come with it for the vast majority of the still-undeveloped areas of the park. A key strategy is designating those areas as official wilderness. Those areas would always welcome dark sky photographers and other adventurers eager to get off-road and into the backcountry.
20% of the profits for every sale of Dark Skies: Rare Phenomena in America’s Public Lands purchased through the link on the Keep Big Bend WIld website directly support conservation efforts of Keep Big Bend Wild to assure the permanent protection of the undeveloped areas of the park. Our goal is to keep them not just wild, but dark.
About the book: If you’ve ever stared at the stars and felt something stir inside you, this book is for you. Dark Skies is more than a photo collection. It’s a portal into the rare, the unexplained, and the unbelievable. It captures the ephemeral wilderness of our public lands in a way you haven’t seen before. It’s my love letter to the American park system, and donating a part of every sale is my small way to say thank you to our beautiful country.
20% of the proceeds purchased from this link are directly donated to KBBW
About the author:
Jeff Pfaller is an award-winning photographer and has visited all 7 continents, all 50 U.S. states in the U.S, and over 20 countries. He funds his wanderlust and parkaholic habits as a content strategist. He lives in Chicago with his wife, three children, and rotating menagerie of animals. His latest landscape photography book, Dark Skies, seeks to help people experience public lands like Big Bend in a new way by celebrating rare moments in the night sky.
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