What are some really good star gazing spots in Northern California?

I live in the Bay Area and as a surprise I wanted to bring someone to a really good star gazing area because he's always wanted to go. I don't mind driving up to 4 or 5 hours away, and I was considering Glacier Point in Yosemite if i couldn't find anything else. I've heard a lot about tours and some 'star parties', but he mostly just wants to be able to lay out under the stars all night. Any good places?|||Here's a cool web site I just found out about tonight:


http://www.jshine.net/astronomy/dark_sky鈥?/a>





It combines an existing worldwide map of light pollution (from satellite data) with Google Maps. Just getting into a green area should be a major improvement, but the blue and gray areas are best.





As you can see, most of the Sierra Nevada is quite good except the corridor of highways to Reno and Tahoe. The darkest part of California is the far northeastern corner, but that's a long drive. Another good spot is the area around Lassen Volcanic National Park.





The Sky %26amp; Telescope web site has an article about the Light Pollution Atlas, on which the above site is based:


http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community鈥?/a>





The author notes that the actual sky darkness (which can be measured with a meter) isn't quite the same as what is shown in the Light Pollution Atlas. For practical purposes, however, the first web site mentioned above should be a very good guide.





For much of the year, if you want clear dark skies, you're better off heading down to the desert regions in southern California. In the summer, however, the area around Lassen is a great spot.





There are more local spots with half-decent skies. For instance, Mines Road (which runs from the Livermore area up the back side of Mount Hamilton) is relatively dark, but it's a very twisty road. Point Reyes can be good provided that there's no coastal fog and you're looking in a direction away from San Francisco and Highway 101.|||anywhere in the hills (sierras, yosemite) should do. why not ask at a local telescope store? they always know all the best places.