# North Cascades National Park

Region: Northern WA, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates: 48.7, -121.2
Bortle class: 2 (1 = pristine, 9 = inner city)
Drive from Toronto: About 2.5–3 hours northeast of Seattle via Highway 20 (the North Cascades Highway).
Best time: Summer through early fall, when Highway 20 is open (it closes seasonally due to snow) and skies are driest.

## Overview
North Cascades National Park protects some of the wildest, least-visited mountain terrain in the Lower 48, and the park's own materials describe an evening here as 'utter darkness punctuated by countless points of light.' It's rugged and remote enough that light pollution simply isn't a factor.

## What to see
Milky Way over jagged peaks, with occasional ranger-led night-sky photography events near Diablo Lake and Artist Point.

## Highlights
- Among the darkest national parks in Washington state
- Highway 20 pullouts like Diablo Lake overlook give easy roadside access to dark sky
- Occasional ranger and partner astrophotography workshops

## Tips
- Highway 20 closes with the first heavy snow, typically late fall through spring — check road status
- Mountain nights are cold year-round; pack layers
- Cell service is minimal to nonexistent through most of the park

## Live forecast
View the live tonight-score and 48-hour forecast for North Cascades at:
https://ontarionightsky.com/?site=north-cascades-np

Structured data: https://ontarionightsky.com/sites/north-cascades-np.json

Source: National Park Service — North Cascades Lightscape / Night Sky — https://www.nps.gov/noca/learn/nature/lightscape.htm

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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=north-cascades-np.