Dark Sky Locations w Lodging Near Twin Cities

[rhudson]

Any dark sky locations with places to sleep within 90 minutes of MSP? Like a resort (without floodlights!) A small town motel near a dark site (Crex Meadows with a motel in nearby Grantsburg.) Where do you go to observe?

[rhudson]

Last time I was at Cherry Grove, it didn't seem that dark. LLCC is a long drive!

[clayton]

If you can find the lodging you want Crex Meadows is a possible option although it's probably just over 90 minutes unless you live North East of the cities. Still not perfectly dark but a little better than CGO. CGO is a Bortle 4 and Crex is a Bortle 3. CGO recently may have gained additional light pollution as there are increasing light domes to the South.

Really not that much at 90 minutes that I know about. If people can get there in 90 minutes there's probably a community and therefore a lot of light.

What is your lodging criteria? Commercial lodging usually near people so equals light and therefore same issue. There are some State Parks with Lodging mentioned in topics below. There's rustic camping at Crex Meadows From Sept 1 to Dec31. I haven't done that as LLCC has more amenities and cold weather camping is not my thing.

Maybe Ely or the North Shore has good lodging and dark skies but that is far out of your travel time limit.

I have always wished for a Traveltime map like app.traveltime.com combined with a light pollution map. These screen shots are approximately the same scale. You can use the app to see what you can reach then compare it to a light pollution map. I use this when I travel sometimes. For me living in Woodbury it's just sad, gets more sad each year no matter how often I run it. Class 3+ or class 4 is about the best I can hope for in 90 minutes.

Check out the links to previous discussions at the end.

DriveTime.jpg

lightpollution.jpg

Dark sites have been discussed previously in several topics:
viewtopic.php?t=7744
viewtopic.php?t=14039
viewtopic.php?t=11809
viewtopic.php?t=11573
viewtopic.php?p=50693#p50693
viewtopic.php?p=49362&hilit=dark+site#p49362
viewtopic.php?t=8681

[Sureshks]

Check out the cabins at Lac qui Parle state park. It's a bit farther than 90 minutes of MSP. But the skies are very dark and there are few trees.

Suresh