By Roger Naylor
Do you know the difference between Castle Hot Springs and Las Vegas? There are probably a few differences but here’s the main one: It will be the Arizona night skies at Castle Hot Springs that truly dazzle you.
Tucked away in the Sonoran Desert, down a quiet dirt road, Castle Hot Springs offers a restful escape with sun-kissed days full of possibilities—hiking, biking, horseback riding, yoga, meditation, and more. That is what guests eagerly anticipate before arriving. The nights just turn out to be a surprising and memorable bonus.
The resort has a special relationship with the night. Far from the artificial bonfire of city lights, twilight at Castle Hot Springs brings deep velvety darkness. It’s the kind of darkness that wraps around you in a gentle embrace because it feels so natural, so uncorrupted. The resort has strived to protect this precious resource of dark skies with careful placement of efficient lighting. Reducing light pollution slashes energy costs and carbon footprints, improves guest experiences, and minimizes the impacts on ecosystems.
Then, once the darkness has settled, the stars come out, which is an event unto itself in the desert.
Sky View Cabins at the resort are designed just for this. They not only provide incredible panoramas of the lush grounds and surrounding mountains during the day. The cabins also offer an incomparable peek at the night sky. Set on an elevated foundation overlooking the resort property, these cabins are exquisitely appointed inside.
Imagine not just a smattering of stars but a sky so laden it can barely contain them all. A crescendo of stars emerges from the shadows like splintered diamonds as twilight surrenders to the night.
Planets appear, comets blaze across the sky, and a wonder of wonders—the long-arched streak of the Milky Way stretches overhead. Eighty percent of Americans can’t see the Milky Way from where they live, yet it hovers above the desert like a river of frosted light. The Milky Way is the galaxy we call home. How nice to be able to connect to it again.
The night also offers a perfect opportunity for a therapeutic soak in the natural hot springs. Follow the gently lighted path to the base of the cliffs where the pools of warm crystal-clear water are available 24 hours a day. It is a radiant and peaceful oasis. Soothed by water that’s rich in minerals, notably lithium, magnesium, and bicarbonates, the hot springs are soothing, refreshing, and healing at any time. But there’s just something magical about being there in the cool night air beneath a canopy of stars.
Just be sure to keep your eyes and ears open while you soak because as private as it all feels, you might not be alone. Watch the rocks overhead for ringtails. Small playful mammals, sort of slender, better-groomed cousins to the raccoon, ringtail possums are often spotted frolicking on the cliffs above the hot springs after dark.
That’s another reason Castle Hot Springs strives to keep their skies dark. Nocturnal animals that rely on natural darkness to hunt, forage or navigate can become disoriented by pervasive artificial light. But at the resort, the local Arizona wildlife is free to simply behave like wildlife. Javelinas are another favorite visitor to the resort. Also known as collared peccary, the medium-sized animals that resemble wild boar love to graze on the grass in front of the cabins during the evenings in family groups. Keep your camera handy and you’ll come home with vacation photos that will be the envy of Instagram.
Of course, even creatures you don’t see can enhance the nights at Castle Hot Springs. The rising moon in the desert can prompt a chorus of coyote songs. Yips and barks and howls carry across the clear desert air stopping you in your tracks. It is a welcome to the West kind of moment. With the saguaros spread across the mountain slopes bathed in moonlight and coyote yips echoing through the canyon and the heavens twinkling above, it all makes for some memorable nightlife in the Arizona backcountry.