Just got back from a trip to Atlanta for a conference and made many stops along the way and back hoping for clear skies. After much searching and researching beforehand, I tried to select the most astro-friendly campgrounds and sites. It's difficult to get good information on campgrounds: Are there extraneous lights? Open, flat places to set up? How dark is it really? A fun place to go even if it's cloudy? I offer my opinions and results below in the hope it will help others like me who may be looking for good sites and are willing to drive a bit along the I-81 area. Passing through and got the scope, but where to go?

Tugaloo State Park, Georgia There is a perfect open, flat, and mowed field next to the campground away from the lake. Some of the campground sites are right next to the field. Very convenient. Only one light at the beach can be blocked by the trees. Although the park is in yellow on the LP map, I believe it's closer to the orange zone. I could not find M-13 naked eye. Only obvious Milky Way structure evident was the Great Rift. Park rangers are used to astronomers--a group from Atlanta used the park recently.

Balsom Mountain, Great Smoky Mountain N. P. Well, no sky report here, clouds all night. No campground lights, not too many RVs, and a few decent open sites where one could set up right at the car. You may see a bear up there. The place feels remote.

Grayson Highlands State Park, Virginia Oh My! Where to begin? First off, this park is remote, you just keep driving past gorgeous scenery on SR 58. Bring food--not much nearby. Once in the park, the drive to the campground is lovely, with scenic pull-offs! The campground itself has an open, flat field right in the middle! Several sites are right along it, affording the chance to observe right at your car site. Chatting with the campground hosts, who happened to be from Tucson and understood the need for darkness with Kitt Peak and all, they suggested I try another parking area called Massey Gap to avoid any other campground lights that may be present later. I drove over about 1/2 mile. You can set up on the parking lot, or one can carry equipment down a few stairs to grass. Another option is the gravel back-country campers lot. Anyway, I set up under a clear sky and good forecast. The park is in the blue LP zone. Oh man, it is way DARK! The Milky Way exploded into view! No light domes that I could discern. No Luna present. A night of observing indelibly etched in my mind.

Naked eye highlights: M-13, M-15, Le Gentil 3 in Cygnus, pipe nebula, M-8, M-22, etc, etc...

Telescopic highlights with a 12" Dob.:
ngc 5053-easy, no problem.
ngc 6118 "blinking" galaxy-found it immediately, obvious.
ngc 7640-low surface brightness galaxy in Andromeda. This object has given me fits from orange skies. Found it in 30 seconds! Easy!
M-31-the dust lane running the length of the galaxy below the core was unmistakable!
IC 5146 Cocoon nebula--found in one minute with an H-Beta filter. Again, clear and easy.

In short, I fell in love with this park. Nobody will be disappointed with the sky. Even without clear skies, there are plenty of great hikes to take.

Loft Mountain, Shenandoah N. P. Mostly cloudy for me, although a few glimpses looked very nice--it's in the green LP zone. Excellent campground. A good mix of wooded and open sites are available. Again affording the chance to set up right at your campsite (if no nearby campfires or camp lights are present of course). The park lights are non-existent. It's the other campers you've got to watch out for. Warning: soap box ahead! Some campers feel the need to bring the city with them and mount large lights right at/over the camp site, providing glare for adjacent sites. Why? Don't you go camping to escape that? Then these same people complain about the bugs swarming around the light. So what do they do now? Why set up a bug light of course! Sheesh. Anyway, Loft mountain is generally less crowded than the popular Big Meadows area in Shenandoah. Bears and deer are abundant. The ride in on the famous Skyline Drive alone is worth it.

Spruce Knob, WV Which brings me to the "Spruce". Highest peak in West Virginia. I was inspired by Phil Creed's excellent report "Beside The Sky". Boy, this place is out there. You feel like you're going to some outpost or something. The final road to the top is now paved. As Mr. Creed detailed, the views are memorable. Once at the peak, I set up on the east side parking lot, using the spruce trees for shelter. The wind difference on the east/west side is dramatic. I was ready. Alas, the weather turned sour very quickly. Things got hazy and wet fast. I did get some tantalizing naked eye Milky Way views before the clouds totally obliterated everything. Kind of fun watching the distant lightning shows. By 11:30 or so I was alone on that peak with maybe 100 feet of visibility. Kind of thrilling and spooky! No real good place to erect a tent. I just slept in the car (surprisingly comfortable). I suspect that after a long, clear night up there you'd be so happy that crashing on a pile of spruce boughs would be just fine. I must go back--only 4.5 hours from Baltimore. For those unfamiliar, the site is in the gray LP zone and considered something akin to a Mt. Olympus of astronomy for the eastern U.S.

Hope this helps someone. Maybe if we talk to the park rangers they will think twice before constructing more lights, or at least provide shields for the ones they have. The dark oases are vanishing fast!
Would a forum dedicated to a discussion of suitable sites help?