Dark sky places in Alaska

Alaska has no certified International Dark Sky Places yet, but it has some of the darkest skies in the country. All seven places listed here are national parks or state park land, and six of them record Bortle 1 skies, the darkest class on the scale. Denali National Park & Preserve pairs the aurora with the mountain itself, Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve sits above the Arctic Circle with no roads in, and Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve puts the summer Milky Way over the bay and the Fairweather Range.Summer is the catch. In June and July the nights barely darken, so the season to aim for is late August to September, when real darkness returns and the aurora season opens. The aurora then runs from late August to mid-April. If you go in summer, expect long twilight and plan around it; if you go in late August or September, you get dark skies, fewer people, and a fair chance of northern lights.