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Dark Ranger Telescope Tours
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Tour the Universe through our BIG telescopes!

Have a Bryce Night!

Everybody wishes you to have a "Nice Day." but we want you to have a "Bryce Night!"  -- the best possible nights for stargazing.  If your travel dates are flexible, check our list  for the Bryce-ist of nights. Then come back to this page to book your telescope tour.
Have a Bryce night

The Astronomy You Prefer

Within the ranks of the Dark Rangers®, there is enough knowledge  to give you an entertaining show on almost any astronomy subject.  After booking your tour below, you'll be invited to pick your show preference by title in a follow-up questionnaire.
Our multimedia shows
Yes, reservations are required.
That way we will know how many telescopes to setup.


SUMMER AND WINTER PUBLIC TELESCOPE TOURS

Pick your season. Summer nights are the least cold and offer a greater variety of deep-space objects. Winter nights are especially frigid,  but cold air is also the most transparent, resulting in stunningly bright stars. Moonless nights during December thru March ALSO offer the rare view of the Orion Spur, the closest but dimmer arm of the Milky Way -- a subtle but sublime sight  few humans ever have, or ever will ever see with their own eyes.  
Scroll to the bottom of the page for our pricing and cancellation policy.

 Summer Telescope Tour (May - October)
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These public Summer Telescope Tours are offered nightly at the Dark Ranger Observatory (adjacent to, but NOT inside Bryce Canyon National Park).
  • May:                                                                                       9:15pm-midnight:15
  • June & July:    9:30pm-midnight:30
  • August:                                                        9:00pm-midnight
  • September               8:30pm-11:30pm
  • October                   8:00pm-11:00pm

If you would prefer to have 1 or more  Dark Rangers all to yourselves,   reserve a   private telescope tour any summer night of the year.
Summer sky is dominated by the the Milky Way, extending to the horizons on moonless nights. The best views of the galactic arm  are not through telescopes, but from a Zero-gravity lounger.    Our BIG telescopes  show colorful close-ups of the planets and deep space objects way beyond human vision: distant galaxies, exploded stars, star-birth nebulae, and star clusters. 

Nightly Tour Format:
  • 15-30 minutes learning to focus telescope on easy targets like planets and bright stars in the twilight
  • 30-45 minutes outdoor multimedia show
  • 5-15 minutes Laser Constellation Tour
  • Back to the telescopes for deep space objects (nebulae, star clusters, galaxies, etc.) up to midnight or until you are  cold, tired, or bored. :-)
DRESS WARMLY, so you don't get tired or bored early!
Winter Telescope Tour (November - April)
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 2-hour  Winter Telescope Tours are offered at the Dark Ranger Observatory  (adjacent to, but NOT within Bryce Canyon), on Tuesday, Thursday,  and Saturday (plus holiday Sundays). Then every night after 2nd Sunday in March (DST).

  • Nov.  - 2nd Sat. March (DST):  7:30pm - 9:30pm
  • 2nd Sun. March  - April 15:                     8:30pm - 10:30pm
  • April 15 - April 30 :                                                                                                                9:00pm - 11:00pm

Need a Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or Sunday  winter night (Nov-Feb)? EVERY winter night,  can be booked as  a Small Private Telescope Tour.
 Cold air is best for telescopes, but it's challenging for humans. Our winter nighttime temperatures can be  10°
to -10°F (-12° to -24°C). 
DRESS VERY WARMLY!
Unless you are a Yeti / Wampa you will need:
                                                 -  Multiple  layers of clothing   including a  ski hat
                                                  - Snow boots  or hiking boots with toe-warmers   
                                                   - Ski gloves or winter gloves with hand-warmers     


Nightly Tour Format:
  • 15-30 minutes viewing planets and bright stars in the twilight for practice focusing  the telescopes
  • 10-15 minute Laser Constellation Tour with FREE hot drinks and  Zero-Gravity Chair for extra $10.
  • Back to the telescopes for deep space objects (nebulae, star clusters, galaxies, etc.) until 10pm or whenever you become cold, tired, or board.
Due to   Antivaxxers' efforts to  extend the COVID-19 Pandemic, our Winter Public Tours must occur entirely outdoors. Please choose a Small Private Telescope Tour  for added benefits of using our smaller auditorium, as a warming hut, and seeing an indoor live, multimedia show, in lieu of a longer Constellations Tour.
 full moon hike (suspended until further notice)
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Our Full Moon Hikes begin & end at the Dark Ranger Observatory (adjacent to, but NOT within Bryce Canyon) and are offered during full Moons:
  • Start times vary so that we can begin the tour with exciting telescope views of the Moon rise.
  • Click Book Now to see our Moon hike calendar
Please standby while we develop new hiking routes

Our hikes are conducted on 3 different routes of varying difficulty, ranging from 1.5 (2.5 km) to 3.5 miles (5.5 km) in round-trip length -- the first to book a given night will be contacted and invited to pick the route.

All hikes fully immerse you in the nocturnal realm. Indeed, flashlights & headlamps are NOT USED! Instead you will trust in the guidance of your fearless Dark Ranger and your innate, if untested, ability to safely explore the night. And of course, you'll also get to use our BIG telescopes -- before and after the hike.
  • Hiking shoes/boots ABSOLUTELY required
  • Children MUST be 6+ years of age to attend
  • Watch this to learn more about Moon Hikes


Click here to purchase $1/Ticket Alternate Night Booking


4-ticket Minimum (NOT per booking, Just per night):

For ALL activities a 4-ticket minimum must be met each night (not per booking, just per night).
For example, if you are the first person to book for a particular night and you only buy 2 tickets you will not be charged until the nightly minimum of 4 is met. If  by 6pm the night of your tour, nobody else has booked 2 more tickets,  the tour will be cancelled and you will not have been charged.  Alternatively, if you decide to book 2 extra tickets (for 2 imaginary friends)  the show will go on.   If later, somebody else books  2 or more tickets for the same night, your 2 imaginary tickets will be fully refunded,  after the tour takes place. 


The night I want is already full! Is their a waiting list?

Bummer. And Yes, we do keep a waiting list for public telescope tours and Small Private  Telescope Tours.

Here's the secret "hack" for getting on a waiting list.
1. Return to booking system (pages with white background instead of grey) by clicking a "book now" button above.
2. Click on the "full/not offered" night you want.
3. Confirm the start time (a little bubble that pops up under the calendar)
4. Enter your contact info.
5. Hope for good luck without wishing misfortune on others who might actually cancel.

If spots open up we will contact wait-listed folks in the order they joined the list. If you later realize you no longer want to be on the wait list please contact us ASAP by sending an email or text message.

Did you notice we call this a "waiting list" and not a "trying to decide if this is something we REALLY, like, wanna actually do... er something...? List"  If you are not sure what the difference implies you might be part of problem that explains why so few businesses including restaurants, keep a waiting list anymore. The newer technology is more conducive to the win-win goals of a wait list, but sadly the newer humans seem less so.

The wait list is full! Does your wait list have a wait list?

Really?! And no, sorry, our wait list does NOT have a wait list. We are not that popular... yet.

Public Tour Ticket Prices

NOTE: This pricing includes Utah sales tax. Because we are a small business another 6% will be charged for credit card transaction and booking fees.
Adults (20 years & older) =
 Teens (13-19) =                                            
Kids (6-12) =                                                   
Little Kids (< 6 years) =                        
Private Tour (large or small) =
    


$45
$25
$15
FREE
click link

Public Tour Cancellation Policy

To cancel contact us by sending an email or text message.
 Because financial institutions are allowed to do volume based pricing, they put small businesses at a disadvantage. This mean we only get 94% of the money you see on your bank statement. We also have to pay an additional 1.9% for our transaction fees.

If guest(s) cancels more than 48 hrs in advance 92% is refunded. Obviously we can't refund more money than we receive, so a 92% refund is where we barely break even, retaining 0.1% of your money.

If  notification of cancellation is sent between 48 and 4 hrs prior to start time, 50% is refund. With that short of notice we are lucky if we can  rebook 50% of cancelled seats.

Rescheduling, or store credit is always an option,  but there can be no same-night refunds ( <4hrs notice)
except due to cloudy or dangerous weather.
But what if it'S cloudy?

Why the weird prices and cancellation windows?  It's a Douglas Adams thing...
You haven't booked a telescope tour yet?

Maybe our TripAdvisor reviews will convince you!


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According to TripAdvisor We Are Among the Top-Ranked Telescope Experiences on Earth.
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