Let me know what the limiting magnitude was also. I may have to visit it...

For me it was New River, West Virginia doing an overnight whitewater rafting trip. Limiting mag was at least 6.5 and probably closer to 7.

I have viewed from Kennybunkport Maine, Pocono Mts. PA, and the Coast of NJ (looking out over the ocean). All incredibly dark but West Va. was so dark that I honestly didn't know what constellations I was looking at.

Here are the three darkest sites that I've observed from: 

in the eastern United States, the summit of Spruce Knob, West Virginia

in the western United States, Anderson Mesa, Arizona

in the southern hemisphere, Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

Dave Mitsky

I have been fortunate to see some pretty dark skies in our local deserts but three places stand out.

Mt Lassen National Park just made my jaw drop open with the Winter Milky Way visible from horizon to horizon. I would say the limiting magnitude was 7.

Southern Utah has a wealth of amazingly dark skies. I have observed from both Capital Reef and Bryce Canyon National Parks and the skies were so dark that one could easily pick out 6TH magnitude stars right along the horizon.  I would actually give both of these parks a limiting magnitude well over 7 when I was there.  In fact Bryce Canyon has claimed a LM of 7.4 and I can well believe it.

L

the darkest place i have observed from is in lake powell in utah/arizona so dark there. there are lights for like a hundred miles lol.. its the same way i didnt know what constellation i as looking at because there are so many stars

My backyard in Industry Maine.,.I'm in western Me..,.,In the middle of miles of forest,.,very quiet ,.,.very peaceful.,..and very dark..,and very beautiful this time of year ..,as the leaves are starting to change,.,.O+O

The Pacific Ocean, many, many miles from any land mass. I can't imaging a darker place outdoors.

I've also observed at many professional observator sites, though the only professional observatory telescope I've personally used is the 82" Otto Struve Telescope at McDonald Observatory. McDonald's site (Mt. Locke) suffers from light-dome encroachment by the small town of Valentine and the much larger town of Van Horn. Nearby Ft. Davis is quite a bit more light-pollution aware and is not a concern. The sky at roughly one mile elevation is quite steady and clear, though not as dark as some parts of the Rocky Mountains.

The Rocky Mountains have severe turbulence, particularly over the central high plateaus. The Rocky Mountain Star Stare can be so dark it's hard to see your hand in front of your face on a moonless night, but the seeing is horrible compared to the desert floor below.

Pic du Midi near Mt. Blanc may be the darkest land location from which I've observed. The sky there is inky black and the seeing is very much better than over the Rockies, though I've only had one clear night at Pic du Midi (it can be quite stormy there).

I've spent many great nights at various places in the Desert Southwest of the USA. Cloudcroft, NM, is a favorite spot and I've spent many nights there while I lived in nearby El Paso, TX. Portal, AZ, and Kitt Peak are also quite nice, though not as dark.

Joshua Tree National Monument in CA, and Big Bend National Park in TX, can be quite dark and clear, though Joshua Tree is within view of bright skydomes from Palm Springs and Twentynine Palms.

I've observed at sites all over Texas, but aside from Mt. Locke (McDonald Observatory) there is no serious TX contender (in my opinion) to Comanche Springs Astronomy Campus, near the SE corner of the Panhandle. We have many photometric nights there, despite its relatively low elevation. The skies over the X-Bar Ranch, site of the annual Eldorado Star Party (about 20 miles north of I-20, between Sonora and Ozona, TX, are very nice.

I'm nearing the point where I want to pick a spot to retire. I've pretty much narrowed it down to the area near Albuquerque, NM. I can't afford Cloudcroft and I want something nearer an urban area than Comanche Springs. So, though I'll hate to leave Texas, I'll be investigating Albuquerque ... or maybe Socorro.

I have to say (light pollution-wise) it is our family cabin in rural Finland. There is not a single street light within 20 miles and the closest big city is over 50 miles to the SE. There is no light pollution to speak of.

Limiting magnitude-wise the darkest place I've ever observed from is the NOT observatory in La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain. I've dipped down to 8th magnitude from zenith with the naked eye from this site.

Nothern Michigan, northwest of Bellaire, in the mid to late 50's. I was young then.

Hi All,

Many moons ago when I was a student I had the chance to visit the "Algerian Hauts Plateaux" with 39 other students, and at one point we were for several days in Boo-Sada at the time it was an oasis at the beginning of the Sahara desert.

WOW what a black sky and so many stars were visible, I was not into astronomy neither were the other students, but the sky was so black and the stars seemed tri dimentional it was simply great.

These days I live between Boston MA and Providence RI and I must say we have much pollution also light pollution, I have never ever seen a sky so dark as in that desert.  A while back we lived in Phoenix AZ, and were at different times in the desert in the late evening, but there too the sky was not as black as I remember it during that student outing

Take care

MarieD

On some mountain dirt road in the Mingus Mt Range just up past Jerome, AZ in the early 1990's.  Most beautiful night skies I've ever seen.  It kinda looked like some fairy princess spilled their wand-sparkle-bucket all over the sky. 

There aren't many areas where I am in Pa, that one can access with limited resources, but I found a place near the Schuykill river in Berks county, where the only light visible is the light from the moon and stars themselves.

       When I lived in Orkney, I Observed from my own back yard at Twatt in Birsay at the North end of the Main Island, with the tiny town of Kirkwall twenty-plus miles distant the night sky was a good LM-7.  From the North Isles it was all about the limit of ones' eyesight.

The other good thing is that in mid-winter it was only light for about 6 hours, The flip side of this though was that in summer it was so light at night they have a midummers' eve "Midnight Golf competition" Not a good couple of months for star gazing, though the Northern Lights were frequent sights.

 Way back, I observed from Grytviken at South Georgia with an120mm binocular. It's the only Souther hemisphere observing I have been able to do so far and the south atlantic Darnkness made for a superb few nights.

I now do most of my Observing now from my Garden on the Isle of Wight, which still manages to get me to around  5 even on the edge of town. Boniface Down and the Back of the Wigh (South Coast) have superb dark skies even with Portsmouth and Southampton to the north of the Island.

And of course, from down here I can see further into the low southern sky to the Likes of M7 and the Bug.

Still planning my trip to the southern hemisphere though.

 Mick. 

For me there have been a few, but some of the most memorable dark skies that I have seen was in Grenada and Panama, and that was quite a while ago.

I now live in NH, it takes me about an hours drive to get to a nice dark sky.

I have always wanted to try and observe from the top of Mt Washington, but right now its pretty darn cold and it's always way too windy to be outside up there.

Dennis

Is this the Mt. Washington that I read about in the 02-09 National Geographic?  I'm running on a poor memory so I may be mistaken.  If I remember the article it said the highest winds were recorded there and some hikers had frozen to death trying to make summit.  The writer and his brother had quite a struggle but they survived.  Take care if you go because weather can change in an instant.  Just curious.  No dark sky deserves "lights out."

HI StarFarmer,

Yes, that is the Mountain that I am referring to.

I have driven up there before, but only during the daylight hours, they don't allow travel up to the top at night, and that is one scary dirt road!  I thought we were going to go off the edge just from two way traffic. It's closed during the winter months, but even during daytime the winds are quite high.  the sky at night up there must be awesome.

Dennis

Mt. Washington can be a very dangerous place.

http://www.mountwashington.org/about/visitor/surviving.php 

I don't know how often the skies are clear there at night but consider just how bad the seeing must be with an average wind speed of 35 mph and gusts that are very much faster.

Dave Mitsky

Hi Dave,

I knew about the conditions, I also was almost run off the skinny dirt road its not wide enough for two cars and there are no barriers to keep you from falling off.

I agree that the seeing would be awful for planetary or double star viewing,  I do know that the skies in northern NH are nice and dark,  even from my location it's not too bad.

The winds when I was there during the daytime wre at about 55mph and the skies were so clear it was impressive, but too windy and cold. IF you could block the winds for some deep sky observing, I would think would be better than at my elevation.

Dennis

I've made the drive up Mt. Washington, with a manual transmission no less, so I know what the road is like.  My wife and I were going to go there last summer (she's interested in meteorology) while we were in Vermont for Stellafane but the weather at the summit was not good.  

Getting there via the cog railway is surprisingly expensive.

http://www.thecog.com/

Dave Mitsky