For a few nights every August, the sky over New Hampshire fills with fire. The Perseids is the best meteor shower of the year, and This is the year to go.
Why 2026 is the year
The Perseids peak the night of August 12, into the early hours of the 13th.
What makes this year special is the moon...or the lack of it. The peak falls on a new moon, so there's no moonlight to wash the sky out. No glare, no faded streaks. Just black sky and meteors. The last time the peak fell this dark was in 2018.
Under clear skies, you can catch as many as 100 meteors an hour. Each one is a fleck of debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle, hitting the atmosphere at 37 miles a second and burning up 60 miles overhead. Fast, bright, and often trailing a glow that lingers a second after it's gone. They bring more fireballs than any other shower of the year.
Where to go in New Hampshire
The rule is simple. Get away from light. Find open sky. Let your eyes adjust.
New Hampshire is one of the last genuinely dark corners of the Northeast and the White Mountains are about as dark as it gets east of the Mississippi. And Burgeon's homebase, Lincoln and Gorham, sit right in the middle of it.
Here are a few places we'd suggest checking out.
In the White Mountains
- The Kancamagus Highway. Pull-offs between Lincoln and Conway open straight up to the sky. Pemigewasset Overlook is the easy pick.
- Crawford Notch. The historic Crawford Depot sits in a dark, quiet notch with a clean view up. One of the best in the White Mountains.
- Franconia Notch State Park. Ringed by peaks, low light, easy to reach right off 93.
- White Lake State Park, Tamworth. Open water to the north, dark pines all around.
- Umbagog Lake. Far north, almost no light for miles. The darkest sky in the state.
Closer to the coast and the cities
- West Rattlesnake Mountain, Center Sandwich. A short climb to a wide ledge over Squam Lake.
- Pawtuckaway and Pisgah State Parks. Big, protected, and reachable from southern New Hampshire without heading all the way north.
Wherever you land, get there before dark and give it time.
How to watch
No telescope. No app. This is a naked-eye event (a telescope will only narrow your view).
Timing. The show runs from about 10 p.m. until dawn and gets better as the night goes. The richest window is roughly 2 to 4 a.m. If you can only stay up late, stay up late. If you'd rather wake early, set the alarm for 3.
Where to look. The meteors come out of the northeast, from the constellation Perseus, but don't lock onto one patch of sky. They streak everywhere. Lie back, take in as much sky as you can, and let them find you.
Let your eyes adjust. Give it 20 to 30 minutes in the dark, then protect it. One glance at a bright phone resets the whole thing. If you need light, use red.
Then be patient. Meteor watching is mostly lying still and waiting, punctuated by the streak that makes the whole night worth it.
What to bring
You'll be lying still for a couple of hours, and a clear August night in the mountains cools off more than you'd expect once you stop moving. This is a night for a hoodie :)
We just happen to have some great ones! Like our Highlander hoodie - warm, soft, and built for exactly this kind of slow evening. Pull the hood up, settle in, and stay out until the sky starts to lighten. The people who see the most are simply the ones comfortable enough to stay out the longest.
One night
The mountains we call home are always beautiful, but this week, under no moon, they're the best seat in the country for the best show of the year.
Drive north. Lie down. Look up.
