When planning your stargazing trip to Lassen Volcanic National Park, remember that it's not just the park's geothermal features that are "out of this world." With minimal light pollution and a diverse range of accessible viewing locations, the park provides the perfect backdrop for you to embark on a journey through the stars...

If you yearn to explore the boundless cosmos, there are few places as awe-inspiring and serene as the enchanting forests of California's Sierra Nevadas, where the towering sequoias stand sentinel to the mysteries of the universe. Among these imposing mountains, you'll find two equally impressive areas of protected land: Kings Canyon and Sequoia national parks...

Imagine lying on your back in a meadow, surrounded by towering mountains and a sky full of stars. The Milky Way stretches across the horizon, and planets twinkle in the darkness. You can hear the sound of a stream nearby, and the only other sound is the occasional chirping of a bird. You feel small and insignificant in the vastness of the universe, but also connected to something much bigger than yourself...

Everglades National Park, a sanctuary of unparalleled natural beauty and biodiversity in Florida, transforms into a celestial wonderland as the sun dips below the horizon. Like many national parks, it is the park's own natural qualities – remoteness, lack of development, geology – that make it a great place for stargazing...

I'm pretty sure we can all agree that the national parks across the U.S. are some of the most fantastic places to visit – and many of them are as special after dark as they are during the day. Thanks to the foresight and continued efforts of politicians and ordinary people, our national parks protect wide swaths of natural land from development and pollution – including light pollution...

Across the United States, there are some incredible places for stargazing; our national parks are among the best – especially out west where there's less light pollution, lower humidity, higher elevation, and, often, clearer skies. I've covered many national parks over the years and provided tips on stargazing in them, including places like Great Basin, Arches, and even Jasper, north of the border...

Some states have all the luck – they have several national parks and pristine night skies above. A few that come to mind are Utah, Arizona, and Colorado. But don't overlook Nevada, the neighbor to the west! Nevada is home to just one national park, Great Basin, and it too is an epic stargazing location...

For a place with death in its name, Death Valley National Park is surprisingly full of life. Vegetation persists even in the driest, harshest climates; birds, bats, and bugs thrive in their little niches within the ecosystem; there are even springs and creeks where vegetation and animals flourish in the hottest place on earth. And that's all just describing the daytime – Death Valley is more full of life at night, when cooler temperatures bring animals out of holes where they escape the heat all day and stars whirl overhead...

Hawaii may not have many national parks, but the ones it does have are stunning. On the Big Island, there's Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, one of the most reliably active places to experience volcanic activity and see the scars and changes it leaves behind. Then there's the only other national park in Hawaii, Haleakalā, on the island of Maui....

Towering above the landscape, Mount Rainier is the most dramatic and arguably most beautiful of the Cascade volcanoes. This mountain range stretches from northern California to southern British Columbia in Canada – and is dotted by old, sleeping volcanoes including Mount Rainier. Of the extinct volcanoes that draw hikers, mountaineers, and outdoors-folk...