Headlands International Dark Sky Park
Ever since I was a little kid I have been fascinated with space. I would guess that is pretty common with a lot of kids. It slides in there somewhere between the dinosaur and anything military phase for most little boys. Probably some little girls too if we are prescribing to traditional gender roles.
I remember pretty much every year I would ask for a telescope for Christmas. I did get a microscope one year (my sister got a chemistry set), but no telescope. It wasn't until many years later that I was gifted one by someone I was close to at the time.
Sadly, I never got the chance to use it like I had hoped. It's one thing to own a telescope and quite another to actually use it. It's definitely a bit more involved than I would have guessed as a kid. There are several people here on Hive that have some impressive rigs and are quite adept at using them. Mine is currently sitting on a shelf in my garage due to having a broken stand.
I think one of my biggest difficulties with the telescope was having a good place to actually use it. I haven't lived away from light pollution since I was a kid, so that certainly makes it hard to see anything.
How I wish I had a place like Headlands International Dark Sky Park closer to me that I could visit anytime I wanted. Headlands is actually one of handful of dark sky parks in the state of Michigan that you can visit. I don't think the other ones are quite as impressive as this one though.
This wasn't our first time trying to visit Headlands. I mentioned in this post that we had tried to visit a year ago, but we ran into some issues with our camper that forced us to go home early. Thankfully, I was able to check it off my list this year.
As you might imagine, the drive back to the park is pretty lengthy, after all, if it was close to a populated area that would kind of defeat the purpose right? Along the very narrow road they have these signs and cutouts talking about the planets of the solar system and explaining how they got their names.
Shout out to my wife for taking these shots as I was focusing on the road. There was a second that we weren't sure if we were supposed to drive down the road or simply park and then walk. It would have been quite the walk because the main part of the park was a good mile down the road. Plus, there were construction trucks flying down the road, so it might have been a bit dangerous.
It looks like they are trying to expand the parking lot at the main area where the dark sky park is located. With @mrsbozz, and @diamonddave's family in tow I made our way to the Headlands Waterfront Event Center. This is the building you can make out in the second photo at the top.
It's an interesting building with a sweeping roof that has sod and other foliage planted on top of it. I'm not sure what the reason is for that, but you might be able to find more information on their web page that I linked above.
The center sits on the shores of Lake Michigan and has a nice amphitheater area outside where you can sit and look at the stars. Inside they have a gift shop and a small conference area where they hold meetings and things like that I think.
They also had some bathrooms in there as well as some on the lower level that you can access from the outside. One of the things I really liked was the fact that they had all red lights in the bathroom. This allows you to maintain your night vision and still be able to see what you are doing.
Back at the campground we were told that each day if the weather is nice there is a local astronomer that comes and hangs out at the Headlands area after 2:00 PM to answer questions and give seminars. If the weather had been a bit more cooperative, we probably would have driven back later, but we were looking at a massive rain cell heading our way. It was scheduled to sit on top of us for the next two days (more on that in another post), so we knew we didn't have much chance of seeing anything.
I'd love to come back sometime when the weather is nicer.
As the kids were walking along the edge of the water near the rocks, they noticed an insane number of snakes hanging out in what little sunlight was shining down. The guy you see above was the biggest one by far. I promised a photo for @foxkoit, so here it is!
I'm not a big fan of snakes, but I find them fascinating to watch from a distance. This guy was no exception. He had to be at least six or seven feet long if I had to guess. We saw a number of smaller snakes and different flavors hanging around in other areas of the rocks as well.
I can only imagine how many total snakes there are slithering around that place. Enough that it would probably make me hesitant to want to sit on the grass in the amphitheater in the dark!
It also makes me wonder how many snakes have fallen victim to birds of prey swooping down to grab them off the rocks.
As you can see in the photo above, the building also has an observatory with a variety of astronomical equipment housed inside of it. I didn't realize you can actually rent the facility out for special occasions. That would make sense why they are expanding the parking lot. It's actually a pretty impressive area!
Despite the absence of a smile on my face, I was really happy that we got the chance to visit Headlands International Dark Sky Park. If you are ever in the area, I think it is a must stop. As I said before, I hope to visit this park again when the weather is a bit nicer and live out my childhood fantasy of being an astronomer.
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I expect the US has more places than the UK where you can get away from artificial light. I did have a telescope, but we have streetlights around us and a lot of people have lights on their houses. I managed to see Jupiter and some of its moons anyway. Setting it up is fiddly. You need a proper rig if you want to take good photos that may need a long exposure.
I would be wary of walking around that place in the dark if there are a lot of snakes.
I heard about some place in the US where they have some sensitive radio telescopes. There are lots of restrictions like only allowing diesel vehicles as they give off less electrical noise. We humans spew out so much interference in radio and light wavelengths. All the new micro-satellites cause problems for astronomers too.
Yes, as I said just in our state alone we have a couple of dark sky designated areas. It helps that we have the great lakes around us. That gives you a wide open shoreline to just look north from. There is at least one dark sky area down in the Middle of Ohio that I have visited in the past as well. I had the special stand for my telescope, but learning all the numbers and angles was a bear! I haven't heard that about the radio telescopes, but I wouldn't doubt it. We likely have lots of private installations all over the place. I heard a long time ago there was a military radio relay down at the bottom of Lake Superior, but who really knows if that is true.
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I've always been curious about space too, but I've never had the chance to use a telescope properly. The Dark Sky Park sounds incredible, especially with all those snakes (kinda spooky though)!
It's a really cool place. The weather wasn't great while we were there so it felt a little deserted, but I bet on a nice evening it's packed!
I am glad you were able to make it to there. It seems like a cool place, although I could do without all the snakes.
I'm with you. It was crazy the number of snakes. They were pretty shy though, as soon as you saw one they were slithering into some hole in the rocks.
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I was the same as you when I was a kid—I loved the planets, the moons, outer space in general, and I begged for a telescope every year. One year my parents finally got me one but I couldn't figure out how to use it. My dad set it up, but there was so much light pollution in our city that we couldn't really see much. The moon was about it. I remember when I first went camping when I was a teen, I was amazed by actually being able to see the sky and probably spent most of the night looking up.
Yeah, I am with you. Some of the places we go camping it's amazing just how many stars you can see on a clear night. As you know we finally got a good look at the Northern Lights this year but I'd still like to see the Milky Way all in one spot like some of the photos you see.
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You certainly are getting to see some nice camping spots. Although the snakes - wow !
Yeah, those were pretty scary! We still have about three or four more trips planned this year, so I am excited about some of the shots I am going to get. We get to head back to the shores of Lake Huron at some point, so hopefully the weather is nice during that stretch in August.
I need to find me some of these walking trails mine are boring AF compared to this lol not a huge fan of snakes though 😂 but I guess it keeps it interesting!
Yeah, I am actually surprised we didn't step on a couple of them. I could see myself jumping around on those rocks when I was a kid, but not with the snakes present!
I was just admiring how lovely the place is, thinking about going there someday then boom, I saw the snake. I got scared for a sec. I'm now rethinking my decision cus I hate snakes lol
I hate them too, so I don't blame you! This place is cool, but there are probably other dark sky areas closer to where you live.
Thank you for sharing this, @bozz it is such a nice park! This place is definitely perfect for when you need to unwind a relax.
It's quite peaceful yes!
Very beautiful place✨
!LOL
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what a beautiful journey, what a beautiful post, what a beautiful picture, what a beautiful effort, what a beautiful description. All is well. Your visit is surprising, especially with the encounter of snakes. J is also not a fan of snakes, it is beautiful but it is dangerous. My son was with me when I was reading the post they asked me what is papa I told them that it was a snake and it is a very dangerous reptile. The number and size of snakes you describe make me afraid because I have never seen such a big size of snake. Although your journey was very adventurous.
We are pretty lucky that we only have one venomous kind of snake where I live and they are very rare. These are the harmless kind, but they still freak me out! Thanks for stopping by!
Wow what a lovely post. 😍 This place just looks amazing and all the photographs are stunning..Thanks for sharing. 🙏 I really enjoyed this post.
Thank you!