Dark sky parks in Arkansas

One certified place protects Arkansas's night, with 3 stays listed nearby.

Buffalo National River: DarkBuffalo National River
The pin opens the place.Outlines: U.S. Census Bureau (public domain).
Dark Sky Park

Buffalo National River

Certified 2019 · free entry

A free-flowing river and Arkansas's first International Dark Sky Park, with summer ranger night programs at Buffalo Point and Tyler Bend.

Dark. Dark enough to see the Milky Way overhead on a clear night, though glow from nearby towns washes out the sky near the horizon. (Bortle 4, an estimate.)

The next stretch of moonless evenings is Nov 6–12.

Nearest town
Marshall · about 8 mi
Stays nearby
3 listed
Milky Way core season
Mid Feb to mid Oct

How dark, when to go, where to stay →

A town has at least 250 people and a grocery store on the map; distances are straight lines, so the drive is longer (how). Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.

The Dark Sky Trip Calendar

About one email a month: the new-moon windows, the meteor showers worth a drive, and the parks at their best. Nothing else.

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