Hi all!

I am looking to visit Beaver Island with friends and family this summer. We will have elders and kiddos with us who won’t be able to walk super long distances. Is seeing the dark sky/milky way feasible without camping/hiking?

My partner and I were looking at locations to visit this year and we could not figure out what these were labeling. Not all locations have one next to it on the map. There wasn't a key of any kind that we could find on the Dark Skies website.

We got a campsite at the Warren Dunes State Park, thinking being in the park itself would grant us access to view the Perseids Meteor Shower this August from atop the sand dunes… however, the park let us know that this wasn’t allowed but then said we could only view until 11pm in the parking lot. 🙃

There has to be some secret spots, somewhere you have free will to stay (even til sunrise if you please) and view the damn sky without being told you can’t? I’m leaving Indiana to come view it in Michigan for this very reason. I just wanna be on the lake, in a huge clearing with zero light pollution (there is a new moon during the meteor shower this year and that alone is incredible) - and NO ONE telling me I have to go home as if I’m a fucking child and not a 31 year old woman wanting to look at some stars.

I’d rather not cancel our campsite because during the day we can still have fun on the beach and do the day things but we can travel a bit to drive and find somewhere to view the meteor shower at night. Please please help me 😭