One of the plains' greatest and least-heralded treasures is the sky after dark. Across the thinly settled west, far from any city's glow, the night comes on with a completeness that startles visitors from more crowded country — a black dome sown with more stars than they knew existed, the Milky Way arching bright enough to cast a faint shadow.

A Sky Without a City's Glow

The national park and the surrounding badlands are prized among stargazers for exactly this darkness, and rangers lead night-sky programs to a public increasingly starved of real dark. On the coldest clear nights of winter, the northern lights may add their green and rose curtains to the show, rippling silently over the frozen prairie.

From the almanac's reckoning:

• The thinly settled west holds some of the country's darkest night skies.
• The national park hosts ranger-led night-sky programs.
• Winter nights can bring the aurora to the northern horizon.

It costs nothing and asks only that one look up and wait for the eyes to adjust. The almanac counsels every plains traveler to spend at least one night far from the yard light, watching the sky the way the old homesteaders had no choice but to.