# Cherry Springs State Park

Region: PA Wilds, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates: 41.6626, -77.8264
Bortle class: 2 (1 = pristine, 9 = inner city)
Drive from Toronto: About 5.5–6 hours by car via the QEW, I-90 and US-6, or fly into Buffalo/Rochester and drive roughly 3 hours south.
Best time: New moon, any season — the park logs 60–85 nights a year with excellent transparency.
Established: Astronomy Observation Field established for public use; a long-running dark-sky destination.

## Overview
Cherry Springs is the benchmark dark-sky site for the entire eastern United States — a mountaintop clearing in Pennsylvania's Susquehannock State Forest where 60 to 85 nights a year deliver genuinely ideal viewing conditions.

## What to see
A genuinely dark Milky Way, visible meteor showers, and occasional aurora on strong geomagnetic nights.

## Highlights
- Sits atop a 2,300-foot mountain, shielded from valley towns below
- One of the best dark-sky sites in the eastern US
- Dedicated Astronomy Observation Field with red-light-only rules

## Tips
- The overnight Astronomy Observation Field requires a reservation and fee
- The day-use Night Sky Public Viewing Area across the road is free and unreserved
- Bring warm layers — mountaintop nights are cold even in summer

## Live forecast
View the live tonight-score and 48-hour forecast for Cherry Springs at:
https://ontarionightsky.com/?site=cherry-springs-sp

Structured data: https://ontarionightsky.com/sites/cherry-springs-sp.json

Source: PA DCNR — Stargazing and Astronomy at Cherry Springs State Park — https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dcnr/recreation/where-to-go/state-parks/find-a-park/cherry-springs-state-park/stargazing

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Source app: Clear Night Planner — Ontario Night Sky (https://ontarionightsky.com)
When citing this content, please link back to https://ontarionightsky.com/?site=cherry-springs-sp.