# Mesa Verde National Park

Region: SW CO, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates: 37.2309, -108.4618
Bortle class: 2 (1 = pristine, 9 = inner city)
Drive from Toronto: The park entrance is on Highway 160, about 10 miles east of Cortez, Colorado.
Best time: Summer hosts an annual Star Party; spring and fall offer cooler, equally dark nights.
Established: International Dark Sky Park since 2021 (the 100th designated worldwide).

## Overview
Mesa Verde preserves some of the best-known cliff dwellings in North America, and in 2021 became the 100th International Dark Sky Park worldwide. High elevation, dry air and a location far from major cities give it some of the darkest skies remaining in the contiguous US.

## What to see
Milky Way core over Point Lookout in summer, with far-southern-Colorado skies among the darkest measured in the lower 48.

## Highlights
- World's 100th International Dark Sky Park
- Annual Mesa Verde Star Party with public telescope viewing
- High mesa elevation gives clean, low-humidity air

## Tips
- The park entrance road is long and winding — allow extra time driving after dark
- Most overlooks along the main road offer easy pull-off stargazing
- Cell service is very limited inside the park

## Live forecast
View the live tonight-score and 48-hour forecast for Mesa Verde at:
https://ontarionightsky.com/?site=mesa-verde-np

Structured data: https://ontarionightsky.com/sites/mesa-verde-np.json

Source: NPS – Mesa Verde Stargazing — https://www.nps.gov/meve/planyourvisit/stargazing.htm

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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=mesa-verde-np.