Viewing conditions at Yellowstone National Park

[incinerator]

Hi, I'm pretty new to astronomy, and I've never had the good fortune of staying the night in a truly dark-sky area. However, my geology class is taking a trip to Utah/Idaho/Wyoming, with the highlight of the trip being a 3 night stay (June 9-11) in the frontier cabins on Yellowstone Lake. I'm excited to go out and view the night sky, and bought a pair of Pentax 10x50 PCF WP II's to bring with me. I'm going to test them next week at the darkest sky I can find near home, but it's definitely not as dark as at Yellowstone.

What kind of viewing conditions can I expect? Unfortunately, it seems that the moon will be a little more than half full at the time, but honestly I have no idea how much the brightness of the moon may affect my views. What do you think?

[Dublin sky watch]

The Moon can destroy a truly dark location. Half Moon is a lot of light, but it is still a great chance to see targets you might otherwise not get a chance to see. Many would see it as light pollution in a dark location.
That said it sound like a brilliant opportunity to get.
The very best of luck and clear skies to you...

[skinnyonce]

Just below this is a thread about mountain lion repellant might want to read that and take the necassary precautions

[ciprian]

Yellowstone NP has real dark sites. You have to stay away from West Yellowstone town (it has some limited light pollution). But looking at the stars from the park is... a great experience. It's a black zone, so you can see Milky Way just fine from there.
And yes, you have to pay attention to wildlife over there...