I’ve tried photographing the Milky Way a few times and it never seems to go as planned. The first night we had to deal with some cloud cover right at sunset so I slept a few hours and started again around 4AM.

Texas Parks and Wildlife estimates that 80% of Americans have never seen the Milky Way. Big Bend is the darkest area in the lower 48 United States and is the largest of the 10 parks in the world that are classified as dark sky parks.

Big Bend takes the elimination of light pollution seriously and has taken numerous measures to upgrade the outdoor light sources throughout the park. In addition, surrounding towns have passed strict ordinances on light pollution sources.

Day or night, Big Bend offers scenery you can’t find anywhere else.
I can’t wait to go back.
Beautifully done!