Gordon -- yes, if you like stars, southern Utah is stunning. There is no other word for it. In an effort to illustrate what I mean, check out this shot of Orion coming up over some hills. It is not particularly noteworthy, and that is exactly the point!
In this shot, I tried my best to replicate what the night sky at Kodachrome Basin actually looks like to the unaided eye -- a dense mass of glittering stars spread over a deep black sky. (This was taken at our campsite.) There are so many stars that familiar bright constellations, such as Orion (at the bottom center) or the Pleiades (at the top center), are harder to find than they would be from a location with some light pollution, just because they are surrounded by thick clusters of usually-invisible stars:
(I hope that the posted version of this shot looks ok -- I had to reduce the file size to meet the forum's formatting requirement.) In any event, and despite my best efforts, the shot is not even close to perfect -- there is a slight glow in the sky that would not be visible to an observer on the spot. That glow is not from a town -- my best guess is that it is water vapor lit up by starlight.
Under these conditions, the stars are so bright that you can clearly see your shadow on the ground, even though there is no light other than the stars. (I don't understand how this is possible -- unlike the sun or the moon, the stars do not provide a point source of light, so how can such a diffuse source cast a shadow?)
