Marathon: Darkest Night Skies from the Comfort of Your Hotel Room!

click on the photo for a closer view
photo by Danny Self, Marathon Motel

Marathon is often the first community travelers drive through to get to Big Bend National Park…yet some don’t stop, and that’s a shame.  Not only does this small community boast the darkest skies you’ll find anywhere in the lower 48 (rated Scale 1 on the Bortle Light Pollution Scale!), but with accommodations to suit every taste and need, and easy access to restaurants, it is a great transition place between your city life and the frontier and open spaces of the Big Bend. 

Consider what a wonderful night you’d have, grabbing a beer and pizza from the French Company Grocer or Lechuguilla Liquors, or a fine meal at the 12 Gage Restaurant.  Then stopping by the Marathon Motel to view a sky like THIS?  What could be better than that?

What the photographer, Danny Self, says about this photo:

“What I liked about this, during the day, this angle, you get a sense of the curves in the walls flowing with the curves of the hills. At night, it comes out with a different complexity of, colors, textures, depth and size. Not to mention the contrasts in exposures! So, to the naked eye, the Milky Way looks like a perpetual 'cloud' in the same place every night, albeit coming up earlier as time goes by. All stars/constellations rise 4 minutes earlier every night. Now, the camera, the camera can see what the eye can't. Hence a really distinct image. So don't expect to go out, find the Milky Way, which isn't hard, unless you're in a light polluted sky, and, even in a Class 1 dark sky like ours, expect to see it this way!”

Next time you plan a trip our way, consider staying in Marathon!  “Like” the Visit Marathon Texas page on Facebook and check out their website too:  www.visitmarathontexas.com to plan a stay in a great small town with the darkest skies!

Light Map of the Region from
VisitMarathonTexas.com website, Big Bend has been
awarded the designation of Gold Tier Sky Park as
recognized by the International Dark-Sky Association!

Visit Marathon Texas is one of our valued Texas Mountain Trail Business Members!