# Kartchner Caverns State Park

Region: Southern AZ, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates: 31.8375, -110.3486
Bortle class: 3 (1 = pristine, 9 = inner city)
Drive from Toronto: Fly into Tucson, then drive about 45 minutes southeast to the park near Benson, AZ.
Best time: New-moon nights, especially during scheduled Star Party events.

## Overview
Kartchner Caverns is best known for its living limestone caves, but above ground it's also an International Dark Sky Park that hosts regular Star Nights with local astronomy clubs in the foothills of the Whetstone Mountains.

## What to see
Milky Way over the Whetstone Mountains foothills; local astronomy clubs bring telescopes for public Star Nights.

## Highlights
- International Dark Sky Park designation
- Regular Star Night events hosted with volunteer astronomy clubs
- Combine caverns tour by day with stargazing by night

## Tips
- Star Night events use red lighting only — bring a red-light headlamp if you have one
- Book cavern tours ahead; they sell out, especially on weekends

## Live forecast
View the live tonight-score and 48-hour forecast for Kartchner Caverns at:
https://ontarionightsky.com/?site=kartchner-caverns-sp

Structured data: https://ontarionightsky.com/sites/kartchner-caverns-sp.json

Source: Arizona State Parks — About Dark Skies, Kartchner Caverns — https://azstateparks.com/kartchner/dark-skies/about-dark-skies

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Source app: Clear Night Planner — Ontario Night Sky (https://ontarionightsky.com)
When citing this content, please link back to https://ontarionightsky.com/?site=kartchner-caverns-sp.