I'm 30 and I've lived in the city my whole live. Occasionally I'll go on holiday to more rural places, but until last year I had never visited a Dark Sky area.
Last year I spent a few nights in a converted barn in the middle of rural Pembrokeshire and for the first time in my life saw what the real night sky should look like.
I had fairly high expectations going into it and thought it would be cool to see so many stars in the sky, but I didn't anticipate the emotional reaction it would have on me.
When you live in the city it's not just light pollution that's unnatural, but also the noises and scenery you become accustomed to. Road noises, planes, and human voices are basically a constant in the city. It's also rare you'll ever find yourself in a place where you're not surrounded by concrete and other artificial structures. The impact of human civilisation isn't just evidenced by the night sky, but the smells of the city, the concrete you stand on, the artificial noises and sights, etc.
Beyond just the night sky there's something special about just being in a place that's so remote. Especially if you're like me and have never truly experienced being that remote before. Everything feels off, but also right at the same time. It's weird. Then there's the night sky, which is crazy. Stars stop becoming points of light which your eyes can focus on, but basically a blanket covering the entire sky. It's forces you to look at the sky in a way that's completely new, and in a way that forces you appreciate it's size and vastness.
Dark Sky areas are great, but I think for more than just appreciating the night sky. They're also a great way to appreciate nature and it's beauty. It's a full sensory experience and one that might be a little surprising or even overwhelming if you're lived in the city your entire life.
I always though a lot of human arrogance would melt down if we had to regularly spend a few days in the desert. It resets your internal scale: nature is big, you are small, cities are amazing oversized camp fires that help us forget that fact for the night.
The first time you look up and you feel all alone, like you could fall in the infinite cosmos and nobody can do anything about it, is really special.
There's a pretty cool experience to have that I learned from attending Burning Man that they call taking a "space walk". You basically just start walking towards the horizon away from the main camp. As you get further away leaving the noises and lights of the event behind you, you just become eneveloped in the silence and darkness with the only thing visible are the objects in the sky.
You can probably do something similar at a lot of dark sky places, except the vast flatness in the desert means you can walk in a long way in a straight line without interruption. This just adds so much to the being alone experience
Completely agree, I remember the first time I realised the earth is really a spaceship, cruising through more beauty than the mind can comprehend, that experience was in the desert.
I do weekend camping out in the alps whenever I can (which isnt much recently due to having kids and broken foot). Its always amazing, maybe also because its not every evening, but the sight works with something inside. Summer, winter, anything in between. Using my few skills to get through the night (ie finding out that air mattress was leaking, its midnight, -15 and I've already dig 1m hole in the snow and built it all), cook some food, see milky way and mountains. Guessing animals from weird sounds they make. Waking up in completely different scenery just due to light.
One of the things I will show my kids when they are older over and over, like they will have a choice :) That's how I recharge batteries, practically nothing in the city can do that (maybe artificial climbing wall is the closest)
That sounds amazing, I‘d love to do that with my daughter (7 yrs old). Any areas in particular you can recommend, maybe easy ones to get started, especially with younger kids?
Last year I spent a few nights in a converted barn in the middle of rural Pembrokeshire and for the first time in my life saw what the real night sky should look like.
I had fairly high expectations going into it and thought it would be cool to see so many stars in the sky, but I didn't anticipate the emotional reaction it would have on me.
When you live in the city it's not just light pollution that's unnatural, but also the noises and scenery you become accustomed to. Road noises, planes, and human voices are basically a constant in the city. It's also rare you'll ever find yourself in a place where you're not surrounded by concrete and other artificial structures. The impact of human civilisation isn't just evidenced by the night sky, but the smells of the city, the concrete you stand on, the artificial noises and sights, etc.
Beyond just the night sky there's something special about just being in a place that's so remote. Especially if you're like me and have never truly experienced being that remote before. Everything feels off, but also right at the same time. It's weird. Then there's the night sky, which is crazy. Stars stop becoming points of light which your eyes can focus on, but basically a blanket covering the entire sky. It's forces you to look at the sky in a way that's completely new, and in a way that forces you appreciate it's size and vastness.
Dark Sky areas are great, but I think for more than just appreciating the night sky. They're also a great way to appreciate nature and it's beauty. It's a full sensory experience and one that might be a little surprising or even overwhelming if you're lived in the city your entire life.