Mid-December Update: Eleven Mile State Park DarkSky Certification

A few times a year, a prospective parent asks, “Do you have a lake?” Bodies of water are often synonymous with a summer camp experience, and for our Desert Montane ecosystem…they are exceptionally rare. Thus it is not surprising that we have had a long relationship with Eleven Mile State Park, our nearest Colorado State Park.

Eleven Mile is a magical place and many campers and staff love to talk about the incredible sunsets, fun paddleboarding adventures and epic canoe trips they have experienced on this massive reservoir in South Park, Colorado.

This fall, we were asked to write a letter of support for Eleven Mile’s DarkSky Place Certification. This is an incredible honor that takes an incredible amount of work to achieve. As one of 12 new Colorado State Parks that seeks to achieve the certification, Eleven Mile rangers and staffers hope “to implement strategies that reduce light pollution and protect Colorado’s stunning night skies for stargazers and dreamers. This opportunity will encourage visitor exploration of hidden gems in rural communities, provide educational opportunities for guests, and promote off-peak-season travel.”

As part of their application, we were asked to write a letter of recommendation. We hope it helps!

I am writing on behalf of Colorado’s Eleven Mile State Park’s application for DarkSky Place Certification.

As the Director of Sanborn Western Camps in Florissant, CO, Eleven Mile State Park holds an important place in our–and our campers–summer experience. Every year, we send hundreds of campers and staff to Eleven Mile to experience canoeing and paddleboarding on one of the most stunning reservoirs in the state of Colorado.

Many of these campers also camp in the various campsites scattered around the lake, often watching the sun set over the distant Collegiate Peaks range to the west. They sit around campfires, tell stories and stare up at the immensity of the night sky and the Milky Way.

A tech-free, screen-free summer camp experience provides kids with a unique perspective: I am part of a larger whole. Sitting on a massive granite boulder, beneath a skyfull of stars, with only the gentle lap of the water below, a camper has the opportunity to contemplate their existence and consider the myriad wonders in the world.

A tech-free, screen-free summer camp experience provides kids with a unique perspective: I am part of a larger whole. Sitting on a massive granite boulder, beneath a skyfull of stars, with only the gentle lap of the water below, a camper has the opportunity to contemplate their existence and consider the myriad of wonder in the world.

Eleven Mile State Park provides this experience, not only for kids, but for anyone who visits this expansive natural space with impressively vast night skies. Coming from Kansas, I am accustomed to horizon to horizon views of the sky, which is fairly rare in the mountains. Sitting on the edge of South Park–Eleven Mile is unique in both the darkness that envelopes it and in the amount of sky above and around you.

I have spent many nights sleeping out on or near the rocks during the annual August Pleaides meteor showers–listening to campers let out quick “OOOO!”s or “Did you see that one? and triumphant “WOW!!!!”s when there is a meteor that shoots from horizon to horizon, tracking its ephemeral tail into the distance above and far, far beyond the reservoir.

It is an incredibly special place with a rich cultural history and regional significance. It is also just a fantastically fun place to explore and recreate in. Please give this DarkSky application your utmost consideration. I, like DarkSky International, am very committed to protecting natural places and to cultivating a sense of awe and wonder in the next generation.

We cannot wait to find out if Eleven Mile State Park earns its certification sometime in 2026. Woot!