Cherry Springs State Park (Pennsylvania)
Cherry Springs State Park is considered one of the best campgrounds on the East Coast of the United States for stargazing and practicing astronomy. The 82-acre park is located in the middle of northern Pennsylvania surrounded by the 262,000-acre Susquehannock State Forest — one of eight state forests located within the 2 million acre Pennsylvania Wilds (See Video).
In 2000, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources declared Cherry Springs State Park the first Dark Sky Park.
In 2008, Cherry Springs earned an International Dark Sky Park certification from the International Dark Sky Association.
Cherry Spring’s 30-site campground is open from mid-April through November, and a loyal contingent of amateur and professional astronomers flock each season to this small no-frills dark sky oasis. Check-in and check-out is at 3pm to accommodate stargazing night owls.
There are two distinct stargazing locations at Cherry Springs:
The Night Sky Public Viewing Area is intended for visitors planning to observe for a few hours. This area is easily accessible from the campground and Visitor Parking area.
The Overnight Astronomy Observation Field is intended for visitors planning to observe through the entire night. This area is separate from the campground and requires an access fee.
As an amateur astronomer, I thought the campground and the Night Sky Public Viewing Area were both fantastic places to enjoy the stars.
The Visitor Parking in the northwest section of the park provides access to the Public Viewing Area if the campground is full or if you wish to sleep elsewhere.
Overnight accommodation alternatives with more amenities include camping at the larger 595-acre Lyman Run State Park (15 minutes / 8 miles driving) or a motel such as the Westgate Inn (23 minutes / 16 miles driving) in Coudersport.
I learned a few things about stargazing on this trip:
It sure helps to have a great telescope or binoculars, but it’s also okay to enjoy the sky with the naked eye. Objects in the sky are also (of course) constantly moving, so positioning a telescope is an active art form. Dew is also a factor. One friendly stargazer successfully used disposable hand warmers taped to the outside of his lenses to keep the glass dry.
Having a red headlamp and an astronomy book is also super helpful.
Peterson First Guide To Astronomy, Second Edition: This pocket book is what I used and I could not more highly recommend it for beginners like me. It shows how the constellations are aligned each month looking north and south and explains the basics of our universe and how the centuries old stories of our constellations can be used to identify and connect them in the sky.
NightWatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe: An avid astronomer that I met at the campground (who was visiting Cherry Springs for the seventh time) highly recommended this book for those interested in greater detail. He also used a phone-based app similar to Night Sky to help identify stars.
Finally, there are chairs that exist in this world called zero-gravity chairs. They are amazing. Period. They look like normal chairs and then you casually lean back and find yourself parallel with the ground. Did you already know this or were you like me? Anyway. They are fantastic for stargazing.
Now that you have your nights all planned out and learned about zero-gravity chairs, what to do during the daytime?
Our first day we explored a 10 mile section of the Pine Creek Rail Trail on bicycles.
The second day we visited the Pennsylvania Lumber Museum.
You could also head into Coudersport and other small towns in the area or explore the Pennsylvania Wilds.
The Pine Creek Rail Trail
The Pine Creek Rail Trail is a 62 mile converted railroad bed of hard packed gravel that makes for an easy ride with a grade of 2% across its entire length. It follows the floor of the Pine Creek Gorge — also known as the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon). Pine Creek — the largest tributary of the West Branch of the Susquehanna River — is famous for fly fishing and kayaking, and home to several campgrounds along the way.
We drove about 35 minutes from Cherry Springs State Park to Darling Run where there is a parking lot and bathroom facilities, and biked through Leonard Harrison State Park, where we passed a beautiful waterfall at the bottom of the Turkey Path (1.8 miles, 720ft elevation, All Trails), and onward to Tiadaghton Campground (used primarily by kayakers and bikers) where we enjoyed our bagged lunches right along the water. We continued beyond the campground towards Blackwell to about the 10 mile mark before returning back to Darling Run.
The Pine Creek Rail Trail is peaceful and accessible. It would be fun to bike the whole route with camping gear and spend the night at the campgrounds. Outfitters such as Pine Creek Outfitters in Wellsboro could help facilitate bikes and logistics if you do not have your own.
Pennsylvania Lumber Museum
Another great surprise during our visit was the Pennsylvania Lumber Museum located about 23 minutes from Cherry Springs State Park. This museum is exceptional in its construction, content, and scope. A college level education in Native American history, the lumber industry, and the struggles and progress of conservation efforts can be obtained here before you even leave the Visitor Center, at which point there are over a dozen surrounding buildings and exhibits to explore including a locomotive from 1912, a model train set and diorama illustrating the networks and interdependencies that existed around lumber towns, a sawmill, blacksmith shop, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) cabin, and a relocated 500-square-foot cabin with no electricity, plumbing, or running water that was home to forester and outdoor enthusiast Bob Webber and his wife Dotty for more than 50 years starting in 1961.
