🥾 Guides: Angel & Andrea
📅 Date: Saturday, May 2, 2026
⏰Time: 6:30 - 10:00 P.M.
📍 Location: Sheild Ranch
🎟 Cost: $15 adults, $7 youth; recommended for ages 8+
Join us for a UV night walk and more at the Dusk to Dark Star Party at Shield Ranch Barton Creek, the first Urban Night Sky Place in Texas. Learn from astronomy educators Amy Jackson (Night Sky Program Director for Travis County Parks Foundation) and Dawn Davies (Hill Country Alliance Night Skies Program Manager) while experiencing unforgettable stargazing—with an exciting new option to stay overnight!
Dusk to Dark Star Party includes:
Starry Sky Viewing: Explore the night sky through telescopes and learn about constellations and celestial wonders.
Dark Skies Education: Discover the importance of dark skies for all living things and how we can preserve them.
UV Walk: Join Central Texas Mycological Society for a guided UV walk through a diverse, nocturnal ecosystem. Using UV flashlights and cameras, we’ll look for mushrooms, night pollinators, birds, glowing plants, lichens, and more.
Citizen Science: Contribute to the Globe at Night campaign, helping researchers worldwide track and reduce light pollution.
$10 Gift Coupon: Enjoy thanks to our promotional partner, Whole Earth Provision Company.
Learn about the Overnight Packages
About the UV Night Walk
We will explore the diverse, nocturnal ecosystem with UV flashlights and cameras to look for mushrooms, night pollinators, birds, glowing plants, lichens and more. This walk will highlight fungi’s role in transforming a former dumpsite into a thriving urban forest. Learn how fungi is entangled in the forest helping plants gain water and nutrients, creating the pigments that give flowers their beautiful colors, to helping plants communicate with pollinators. We will have UV flashlights. Guests will learn how to look for, photograph and be community scientists in adding fluorescing organisms to the iNaturalist project. Learn more here about how some plants, mushrooms, lichens and insects have evolved color patterns that are visible in the ultraviolet portion of the electromagnetic light spectrum, which humans cannot see but many insects, birds and animals can see.
Bring your own 365nm UV flashlight or purchase one from us and pick-up at the event.
