Looking over the Dark Sky Place finder recently and on an occasional basis always provides some insights into which sites have been approved and maybe potential sites could be eligible for recognition. This doesnt mean that there aren’t dark sky sites in these places that have not been recognized, nor is the map a comprehensive list of dark sky sites. But what it does show are sites plus areas that have gone through the process of certification, and have maintained their certification. What we noticed is that the states of Idaho and Oregon both have recognized locations by the IDA (International Dark Sky Association), but Washington does NOT!

This does NOT mean Washington has not have dark sky sites, as the Goldendale Observatory State Park became the sixth International Dark Sky Park designated in the world. It would later lose that designation, but there are a plethora of dark sky state park sites and other sites too. There are also sites that are not state parks, such as the Goldendale Sky Village, that have dark skies as well. There are more than 140 Washington State Parks, and although there are 0 that are at the Level 1 Bortle Scale, a combined 33 are either Level 2 or Level 3 which means that 23.571% of the state parks have dark skies great for astronomy!

Level 2 Bortle Scale State Parks	9
Level 3 Bortle Scale State Parks	24

This isnt meant for an exhaustive list, nor are we saying that Washington does NOT deserve to have any Dark Sky places, but rather, it’s surprising that the state lacks them at this time. What do you think? What sites that we missed or forgot to mention? Let us know in the comments or on social media!

Make sure to check out our suggestions for dark Sky sites within a few hours of Spokane, Seattle, and other cities in Washington, check out our articles on the subjects. For more updates, go follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and make sure to check out other articles this for more amazing content like this.