Joshua Tree National Park, California

Joshua Tree transforms camping into an otherworldly experience with surreal boulder formations and Dr. Seuss-like trees, featuring night skies so dark the Milky Way casts actual shadows on your tent. It's 60% darker than the average U.S. national park, as measured by Bortle scale ratings of 2 out of 9. Over 800,000 acres of high desert ensure 300 annual campsites book within hours, but stargazers can expect 40% more visible stars than at #8 Acadia. Meteor showers here occur at twice the frequency of typical inland spots, with August Perseids peaking at 60 meteors per hour.