I finally made it out to Cherry Springs State Park and was bummed by the light dome from certain directions

3 comments

3 Comments

lol yeah that light dome is real. but one thing i noticed when i went there was that the worst of it seems to come from the south and west, which is Williamsport and other towns. if you plan your spot facing north or east and get there early enough to set up before it gets fully dark, you can kinda hide from the worst of it. also the dome is way worse in summer when the leaves are off the trees, so winter trips actually have less sky glow bouncing around.

fionaw541mo ago

Try parking at the Pine Creek Rail Trail lot, it's open to the north and east.

seth_martinez2116d agoMost Upvoted

Oh come on, I have to push back on this. I've been going to that same spot for years and I actually find the light dome worse from the north and east, not the south and west. Williamsport is bad but there's a lot of small towns and scattered development to the north too that throws off a surprising amount of glow. And honestly, winter trips are terrible for light pollution because the bare trees don't block anything, the sky is clearer and drier so the light carries further. I'd take a summer night with heavy humidity any day over a crisp winter evening. The leaves might be off but the haze in summer actually scatters and softens the worst of it more than people realize.