The Big Belch

 It was July 14, 2023, and Mitch showed up at the door of my desert house at the prearranged time. The outside temperature was 104 degrees Fahrenheit. I hadn't seen him in 2-3 weeks. I opened the door, and without saying a word, we both broke out in laughter. We knew exactly what the other was thinking: What we are getting ready to do is total craziness!!

 

Our plan was to head down Pinto Basin Road to set up for photographing the Milky Way that evening. This area has some of the darkest skies in Joshua Tree National Park, but it's also the hottest section in the Park. If it was 104 at my house, it was probably 109 (or more) in the Pinto Basin. Before you judge us too harshly, let me outline our plan of survival (yes, I meant to say survival):

1. Find a good spot close to the road (there would be very little hiking involved).
2. Take a large cooler on wheels, full of ice, cold water, other cold beverages, and Subway sandwiches. There would be no shortage of fluids to keep us hydrated!
3. Take chairs to stay comfortable. This wasn't a hike, it was more of a picnic with camera gear!
4. Broadbrimmed hats, long sleeved shirts, suncreen, etc.
5. A first for me: Cooling towel. Dip it in the melting ice and drape it over my head. It works like a personal swamp cooler!

Here I am, modeling my new cooling towel!

I don't want to make light of how much importance we place on safety during our hikes, especially in the summer heat. There was a recent report of an experienced hiker about our age who died in Death Valley while hiking. It can happen to anyone.

 

We made a last minute decision to go check out Geology Tour Road. We figured if we don't see something we liked, we still had time to go to Pinto Basin Road. But GTR is at higher elevation (which means cooler) and has some large boulders (which means shade). It didn't take long to find some interesting boulders and get set up for the evening, a short distance off GTR.

Interesting boulders. This is the general area we chose for our MW shoot.

 

This huge split-in-half boulder caught my attention. Milky Way foreground??

 

I decided to use split rock as my foreground and hope that the MW would (at some point in time) align nicely with the split. Now all there is to do is wait for darker skies, so I think I'll walk around and take some pictures...

The temperature in the shade was remarkably comfortable! We sat around, ate our sandwiches, drank our drinks, solved a few world problems, and started taking our Milky Way photos around 10 or 11PM. 
 

My first attempt (about 11:20PM). I was hoping to get the Milky Way right over the top of the split in the boulder, but not quite there yet. According to PhotoPills, I would have to wait until about 12:30AM. Fortunately, Mitch was in no hurry, so a bit more waiting for the Milky Way to slowly rotate across this big beautiful desert sky.

 

Ah, there we go!! At 12:21AM I achieved the alignment I was looking for. It's as if all the stars in the Milky Way are pushing out through the split in this giant boulder. The Big Belch!

 

Thanks for stopping by!!

Linking with Skywatch Friday.