5 Amazing RV Destinations for Both Hiking and Stargazing

Where can you find phenomenal hiking and stargazing in the same location? We have 5 amazing destinations we love to visit when RVing that have both popular outdoor activities.

Keep in mind, this is definitely not an exhaustive list. There are hundreds of other excellent places all across the US with both dark skies and wonderful trails, but these are some of our favorites.

Bryce Canyon National Park

If you have a bucket list location for hiking and stargazing, this one should be on it. The stunning hoodoos combined with starry skies puts Bryce Canyon National Park in the conversation for one of our absolute favorite places to do both activities.

Hiking in Bryce Canyon

If you have only done the overlooks at Bryce Canyon National Park, you really need to try the trails too. They are unbelievable!

Our favorite three are the Fairyland, Peekaboo, and Navajo - Queens Garden Loops. Each trail offers amazing views of the park with different perspectives of stunning landforms you can't see from the overlooks. Walking among thousands of orange hoodoos that you can't find anywhere else in the world at this volume is a must do for any hiker.

Stargazing in Bryce Canyon

Our family has returned to this park several times because of the clear skies free of most light pollution. It's far away from major cities to enjoy viewing a clearly defined Milky Way stretching from one end of the sky to the other. We'll sometimes sit out for hours in front of our Jayco enjoying the crisp and cool summer nights and a sky full of stars.

If you are a bit daring, try combining hiking with stargazing at Bryce. It's an absolutely amazing experience! Alison and I descended deep into the Bryce Amphitheater to view the stars as a backdrop for the hoodoos and shoot some astrophotography. It's definitely not for the faint of heart, especially if you are afraid of heights or the dark.

Ridgway/Ouray Area

We like to call the Ridgway and Ouray Area of Colorado our home away from home. It has mind blowing hiking and epic night skies in one big playground of a region we have continuously returned to over the years.

Hiking in the Ridgway/Ouray Area 

To access the massive amount of trails in this region, we like to park our Jayco at Ridgway State Park. This campground gives you a good home base not only for the trails in the park but for hundreds of world class hikes in the San Juan Mountains. It's also only a 20 minute drive to the town of Ouray, which has plenty of trails and other mountain town activities.

We have lots of favorite hikes in the Ridgway/Ouray area, but here are a few that immediately come to mind you might want to try.

The Ouray Perimeter Trail:  Hike the Perimeter Trail around the outside of the town of Ouray to enjoy views looking into the town. There are two beautiful waterfalls, Cascade Falls and Box Canyon Falls, along the hike.

Blue Lakes: In the Mount Sneffels Wilderness Area, are a chain of arguably some of the prettiest lakes in America. Lower Blue Lake is gorgeous, but keep going if you want to see even nicer ones from high above. We've done this hike twice.

Mine Hikes: If you like hiking to historic locations, we love both the Neosho Mine and Colorado Boy Mine hikes. Both are pieces of Colorado history along well maintained trails.

Try to visit the Ridgway/Ouray area in both the fall when the aspens are a brilliant yellow color and in the summer when tons of wildflowers are blooming. You can't go wrong with either season, since the colors popping everywhere makes hiking here spectacular.

Stargazing in the Ridgway/Ouray Area

The town of Ridgway is an International Dark Sky Community, meaning it is the perfect place to RV if you want to experience dark sky camping. Since the local people care about the night sky, you'll find shielded and dim lights in town helping to keep the surrounding areas dark. The stars are the only things that shine bright here.

I feel like we have countless photos of the night sky from this region because the stars look so good from Ridgway and Ouray. The elevation of state park and the nearby towns are about 7,000 feet and above making the air thinner with less humidity. This helps to add clarity to your starry nights.

Our top trails in Kodachrome Basin State Park are the Panorama, Angels Palace, and Sentinel even though we've done them all in this park. Panorama takes our top spot with tons of highlights like the peaceful Cool Cave, unique looking Secret Passage, and plenty of interesting spires rising out of the ground along the trail.

Angels Palace has great views of the park from high up, while Sentinel is burned into my memory as a trail with amazing sunset scenery.

Stargazing in Kodachrome Basin 

When your hiking is done head back to your Jayco for some dark sky celestial fun. They have an exceptionally dark campground at Kodachrome Basin since you're far away from major cities and also partially in a natural basin.

We like spending our nights looking up at the summer constellations while sitting outside our RV just talking.

When we have felt adventurous, we've combined hiking with stargazing in Kodachrome just like Bryce Canyon. There is the Nature Trail, which is completely flat and paved. It makes for a phenomenal night hike under the stars with all sorts of landforms standing out as silhouettes. It's breathtaking!

Stargazing in the Snowy Range 

Ryan Park is our preferred campground in the Snowy Range since it's only 20 minutes to all of this hiking, and it's also a wonderful dark sky campground. Medicine Bow National Forest has tons of acres with almost no light pollution. We also enjoy returning to this part of Wyoming because of the stunning starry skies it provides.

At night when you are chilling out at your campsite, it can get a little cold. That's because the elevation is over 8,000 feet. So, either take a break and warm up inside your Jayco as the temperature drops, or light a campfire for hours of family fun under the pristine night sky. It's a beautiful pine forest campground you'll want to enjoy well into the night.

Caprock Canyon State Park 

We couldn't leave the list without a spot in our home state of Texas. The obvious choice would be for us to mention the famous Big Bend National Park which we thoroughly enjoy, but we went a different direction. Out on the plains of Texas is the beautiful Caprock Canyon State Park.

Hiking in Caprock Canyon 

Within an hour drive of Caprock Canyon is the much more famous Palo Duro State Park. Just about every Texan knows the name Palo Duro, but most have never heard of our choice on this list. I'd argue that Caprock is just as beautiful as Palo Duro with canyon hikes that descend into several amazing orange and white rock layers.

The North Prong, South Prong, Eagle Point, and Haynes Ridge are all fantastic hikes we enjoy in Caprock Canyons. Alison and I have even done some trail running in this park, which can be risky if you aren't careful. There are lots of prickly pear cacti along many of the trails, which are beautiful in the spring to look at with their yellow flowers blooming, but they sure can be painful if you aren't paying attention.

Stargazing in Caprock Canyon 

We like to escape the Dallas area to the plains of Texas because the bright lights of our city drown out most of the stars. That's not as much an issue out here. There are some small towns nearby that add to the light pollution of the region, but it's still an amazing state park for stargazing.

From your RV, you'll discover the Milky Way core is still easy to see in the spring, summer, and fall, many galaxies are observable, and the constellations are all up there for you. We have visited this park on several occasions both as part of a dark sky camping weekend trip and as a layover campground on our way out of Texas for longer trips.

On your next RV trip, try fitting in one of the locations on our list if you enjoy both hiking and stargazing. You won't be disappointed!