Dark Sky Camping

[AlwaysDreaming]

22' Class C, Home Port: Florida
I am looking for a campsite in a Dark Sky region in the U.S. We want to see the constellations in a dark sky. I assume we will have to dry camp for a couple of nights which is no problem, maybe a BLM site. We will need to get the 22' Class C to the site, but it is pretty nimble.
Any recommendations?

[ppine]

packnrat,
The playa is low in elevation. I used to work all over Nevada. The top of the Toiyabe Range at 10,000 feet or the Ruby Mtns would be examples of much better places for star gazing.

[packnrat]

if you want true black sky in the USA. the best if the only place left is black rock desert in the north west corner of nevada.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Rock_Desert

bring twice the fuel, twice the food, and four times the water you think you might need.
and more than one motor vehicle. no cell here. might get ham. or a sat phone, but nothing else.
get all before leaving fallon nevada. as the ONLY place to get anything north of hwy 80 is the burg of gerlatch. and they have almost nothing.
get out on the playa, and drive north a couple hrs you are over the curve of the earth from everything. if you did not bring it... it just does not exist.
and watch out on the rd north to and south home, as you cross tribal land, and yes they do have speed traps, (only source of income).

[dcason]

Always Dreaming!

Kissimmee prairie is a great park and it is indeed dark and CLOSE to you. We go there often when we are in Florida. One of our favorites and it is most likely the cheapest park in florida. BRING everything you need because it is a LONG drive to get provisions..I think it may be 40 miles to a walmart and nothing else close. We've been there when people arrive thinking there was a camp store or something and they had to leave and stock up...hahaha.

Bahia Honda, I guess kind of dark. Make sure you have a reservation although this time of year it is easier by far. We like that park as well for its sunrises an sunsets and blue water. Part of it is still closed from irma though....so sandspur beach is not open and will not be for a while yet...so much work to be done there.
Donna

[profdant139]

I took another look at your photo and realized that there are not one but two meteor tracks! If that was late July, chances are that those were early Perseids.

[profdant139]

Jon, you probably already know this, but that reddish color at the bottom of the frame is entirely correct and authentic -- it is not light pollution. It's "airglow" caused by the excitation of oxygen molecules in the thicker part of the atmosphere.

How do I know this? Awhile back, I spent a lot of time and effort trying to eliminate that "rusty" color with my photo editing software, thinking it was artificial. I was unsatisfied with my results and did some googling to see what other folks had said. Surprise! I was artificially altering the natural color of the night sky.

Perhaps that shot of yours should be titled "Distant Encounters?" (The feeble joke dates me -- "Close Encounters" came out in 1977!)

[vermilye]

July 29, 2014, 10:30PM. A panorama of 6 images, each shot with a 17mm lens at f: 2.8, ISO 3200, 30 seconds, Nikon D700.

[ppine]

NIce photo by frizzen. That view is not that hard to find if you know where to look in every western state.

[frizzen]

vermilye wrote:
I enjoy taking "dark sky" photos, and have found many places in the west work well. As others have mentioned, getting away from cities & trying for high altitudes helps.

One of my favorite milky way photos includes skies that are not all that dark, but with a meteor and Devils Tower, I like it.

What time of year was this picture taken?

[AlwaysDreaming]

vermilye wrote:
I enjoy taking "dark sky" photos, and have found many places in the west work well. As others have mentioned, getting away from cities & trying for high altitudes helps.

One of my favorite milky way photos includes skies that are not all that dark, but with a meteor and Devils Tower, I like it.

Beautiful
Thanks

[maddog348]

Tin=Bender Which location are you refering to? Thanks

[vermilye]

I enjoy taking "dark sky" photos, and have found many places in the west work well. As others have mentioned, getting away from cities & trying for high altitudes helps.

One of my favorite milky way photos includes skies that are not all that dark, but with a meteor and Devils Tower, I like it.

[clikrf8]

Yosemite Sam1 wrote:
Where are you?

The darkest part of the US is the Massacre Rim in the Nevada-CA-Oregon border.

Never been there but the write up says, it is so dark that the dense starlight can cast a shadow.

We were there last Spring. We travelled on 8A, a decent gravel road that bisects Sheldon Antelope Range. We were the only ones there. It took us several hours from where we left 140 until we came to a paved road just east of California border. We did encounter a road grader just before pavement. Very isolated but beautiful. We should hav3 spent the night but it had been raining so the skies would have been obscured.

[Roy_Lynne]

Badlands in South Dakota are a great place as there are no large cities in the area at all. Joshua Tree National Park is very good also.

[ppine]

Years ago we skied into a resort near Tioga Pass to celebrate New Year's Eve. We stayed in cabins, with meal service at the lodge. I have vivid memories of drinking champagne at midnight with a group of friends outside and looking at the sky at 10,000 feet. It was around -15 degrees F.

The Universe did not seem that far away.