Any recommended campsite in Maryland for startrail?

<p>It is the first time visiting Maryland and I'm looking for the campsite for sleeping and shooting star trail. Near the pond or river would be nice.</p>

<p>You might check the map for where the Appalachian Trail passes thru Maryland. It is quite a diverse state, from the eastern shore to civil war battlefields. Obviously being near a large city such as Baltimore wouldn't be an ideal spot for star trails - probably not along the beltway either.</p>

<p>The DelMarVa stargazers use the Tuckahoe State Park on the Eastern Shore for new moon gatherings. Not the transparent sky of western deserts, but I was impressed by the lack of sky glow from the towns nearby. Here's a link for info: http://www.delmarvastargazers.org/darksite/index.html</p>

<p>I've always been impressed with the night sky when I've camped at Assateague Island. You can camp at the state park or National Seashore. You can make reservations on line. The state park has overall better facilities and costs more. Many people staying at the seashore get a pass for hot showers in the state park. If you stay in the state park you can get a 7 day pass to the seashore for day use. You have to contend with the ponies in both locations, even at night. You have the ocean on one side and the bay on the other. The National Seashore is south of the state park and you can get access to more remote locations on the island from there. It's worth looking into. Check it out <a href="https://www.nps.gov/asis/index.htm">here</a></p>

<p>Watch out for the ponies at Assateague ... they'll plow through your tent guys and strip the picnic table of food ;-)</p>

<p>John, you're so right. That's why I mentioned having to contend with them. They have surrounded our table while we were eating, blocked accesses to the beach and blocked roads. It's all because people feed them and they learn where the food is. A family of ponies was smart enough to figure out how to get into the neighbors tent, but not smart enough to get out, so they panicked and thrashed the tent apart, then almost galloped over our son's tent with him sleeping in it. That was in the state park. The next morning one of the NPS rangers came around to photograph the same family of ponies as they decided to take a nap in our camp site. She thought their foal was soooo cute. I asked her if she'd like to photograph all the damage done the night before. She was unconcerned. My communiques to NPS staff about pony/human interactions went unanswered.</p>

<p>On the bright side, NONE of our photo expeditions at Assateague were effected by the ponies. It's a very nice place. However, anyone going there has to be ready to put up with them, including photographers with gear on tripods. The OP may find wonderful locations for startrail photography and have a great time in a beautiful location.</p>

 

<p>Tuckahoe State Park</p>