As discussed in a previous article, we looked at statistics of all state parks of all 50 US States, and classified each state park to the appropriate Bortle Scales 1, 2, and 3 to determine the darkest skies. In this article, we will delve into the Bortle 1 sites in more detail, including which parks in each state classify as Bortle scale 1, whether they have camping, and more information.

Statistic	How Many States
Total Bortle 1 Sites	43
States With At Least 1 Bortle 1 Site	14
States With At Least 5 Bortle 1 Sites	2
States With At Least 10 Bortle 1 Sites	1

State	Level 1 Bortle Parks	Name of State Parks	Parks With Camping Available
Alaska	16	Lake Aleknagik State Recreation Site, Wood-Tikchik, Security Bay State Marine Park, Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, Porcupine Creek State Recreation Site, Fielding Lake State Recreation Site, Denali SP, Liberty Falls State Recreation Site, Squirrel Creek State Recreation Site, Lake Louise State Recreation Area, Matanuska Glacier State Recreation Site, Boswell Bay Beaches State Marine Park, Shuyak Island, Buskin River State Recreation Site, Pasagshak River State Recreation Site	Wood-Tikchik SP, Security Bay State Marine Park, Porcupine Creek State Recreation Site, Fielding Lake State Recreation Site, Denali SP, Pasagshak River State Recreation Site, Shuyak Island SP, Buskin River State Recreation Site, Boswell Bay Beaches State Marine Park, Matanuska Glacier State Recreation Site, Lake Louise State Recreation Area, Squirrel Creek State Recreation Site, Liberty Falls State Recreation Site
California	3	Bodie State Historic Park, Smithe Redwoods State Natural Reserve, Sinkyone Wilderness	Smithe Redwoods State Natural Reserve, Sinkyone Wilderness
Colorado	1	Lone Mesa	N/A
Hawaii	1	Manukā State Wayside	Manukā State Wayside (permit required)
Michigan	1	Muskallonge Lake	Muskallonge Lake
Minnesota	1	Judge C.R. Magney	Judge C.R. Magney
Montana	2	Hell Creek, Painted Rocks	Hell Creek, Painted Rocks
Nevada	3	Wild Horse Reservoir State Recreation Area, Spring Valley, Berlin-Ichthyosaur	Berlin-Ichthyosaur, Spring Valley, Wild Horse Reservoir State Recreation Area
New Hampshire	1	Umbagog Lake	Umbagog Lake SP
New Mexico	2	Sumner Lake, Clayton Lake	Sumner Lake SP, Clayton Lake SP
Oklahoma	1	Black Mesa State Park & Nature Preserve	Black Mesa State Park & Nature Preserve
Oregon	7	Bates State Park, Pete French Round Barn State Heritage Site, Frenchglen Hotel State Heritage Site, Fort Rock State Natural Area, Goose Lake State Recreation Area, Chandler State Wayside, Golden and Silver Falls State Natural Area	Goose Lake State Recreation Area, Frenchglen Hotel State Heritage Site, Bates SP
Utah	4	Goosenecks, Goblin Valley, Anasazi State Park Museum, Otter Creek Reservoir	Goosenecks SP, Goblin Valley SP, Otter Creek Reservoir

The majority of state parks that are in the Bortle 1 scale are accompanied by the opportunities to camping for astronomers that want to go there for a trip. It is worth noting that of all of the parks that are in Hawaii and Alaska are not in the continental US and are harder to get to for astronomers who want dark skies.

East of the Mississippi River, the only Bortle 1 parks are in New Hampshire and Michigan.

Below we show a map for more in-depth information.

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