This Remote Little Overlook In North Dakota Is One Of The Darkest Places In The Nation
By Tori Jane|Published May 18, 2022
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Tori Jane
Author
Tori Jane is a storm chaser, writer, photographer, and the village idiot - in that order. When she's not out and about dancing with the meanest storms on planet Earth for funsies she can be found wandering, shooting landscapes, writing, editing photos, and otherwise up to no good. Legend has it that she can also be occasionally spotted typing up short bios in the third person, but those rumors are unsubstantiated.
So, let’s be honest here: North Dakota isn’t exactly teeming with visitors. With fewer than one million people and as a state seldom considered for family vacations, it might seem hard to imagine that there’s much of anything to do around here. Did you know, though, that thanks in part to its remoteness, North Dakota is one of the best states in the nation for something like, say, stargazing and night sky viewing? It’s true; North Dakota is a nature lover’s dream come true, and with so few visitors, it’s the perfect place to quite literally get far, far away from it all. Our seemingly endless skies are perfect for stargazers in particular. For the darkest sky in North Dakota, consider heading to Crow Flies High Butte at Crow Flies High State Recreation Area. You will have never seen so many stars overhead!
The Crow Flies High State Recreation Area is a beautiful overlook located nearby the town of New Town.
It overlooks Lake Sakakawea, offering birds-eye views of one of North Dakota's most beautiful reservoirs and natural areas. It's not overwhelmingly enormous by any means but it's gorgeous, and the man it's named after was a man of great importance.
His name was Crow Flies High, an honored Hidatsa chief from 1870 until the tribe's assimilation to the federal reservation system in 1894.
Notably, his band was the last one to settle on a reservation, and to this day, his legacy lives on in the spirit of North Dakota. It is wildly appropriate, then, that such a beautiful region of the state is named in his honor.
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When night falls over the Butte, the real show begins.
On a clear night, once your eyes have some minutes (about 20 to 30 minutes, ideally) to adjust to the darkness, you will be greeted by an incredible night sky with seemingly infinite glimmering stars.
There are so many stars glimmering in so many layers that the sky takes on a consuming four-dimensional appearance when you look at it in just such a way.
Crow Flies High Butte - and Crow Flies High State Recreation Area in general - is a designated dark-sky area, though North Dakota's night skies don't tend to need a lot of assistance when it comes to sheer darkness.
The recreation area is open to visitors until midnight offering many hours of stargazing opportunities.
Another excellent place for a dark sky in North Dakota is pretty much anywhere at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, a designated dark sky zone that offers views beyond your wildest dreams.
Knowing about these locations is especially helpful during aurora season when you can watch the incredible northern lights as they dance above the North Dakota prairie.
You can also watch the sky at the canyons at Theodore Roosevelt or over Lake Sakakawea at the Butte. The North Dakota night sky is one delicious cake for stargazers of all experience levels, no matter which way you slice it.
If you didn’t know where to go before for the darkest sky in North Dakota, at least you do now – just in time for watching the next big meteor shower! Where’s your favorite place for stargazing in this beautiful state? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!
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