March Milky Way Madness

 You might think I'm crazy (https://www.youtube.com). Sometimes I think I'm crazy.  After driving 10 miles on a terribly rutted and washboarded dirt road that nearly shook my Jeep apart, I started my solo hike. I struggled to put on my very heavy backpack with food, water, sleeping bag, and camera gear. No tent (some call this "cowboy camping"), because that would add even more weight. What do you need a tent for, anyway? Well, some would argue to keep snakes, scorpions, tarantulas, and other critters from climbing into your bag with you, but I decided not to worry about that. Don't sweat the small stuff.

 

I had a plan. There's this old mining site in Joshua Tree National Park that I've been to once or twice before. At this site there's this thing that looks like a giant funnel (seriously!). Not sure how it was used in the mining operation, but that's exactly what it looks like. I had this idea stuck in my head where I go out during a new moon and shoot the Milky Way, and try to orient it so it looks like the stars are pouring into the funnel. It was a long shot that it would turn out the way I was envisioning it, but the only way I was going to get that image out of my head was to go out there and give it a try.

About 3/4th of the way to my destination, there's this gate. Kind of funny because the fence is gone on either side, so the gate is serving absolutely no purpose, but kind of cool that it's still standing. It also serves as a marker for an old road, leading into and out of the mining area. The old road is mostly non-existant these days. Oh, and notice those clouds? They are the enemy of Milky Way photographers!

 

Rusty deliciousness!

 

A pile of rocks in the desert always make you stop and wonder...

 

Bonus points if you can correctly identify what this used to be!

 

I eventually find my way to what's left of the "Gold Rose Mill." Center right is a large vat or tank. I'm no expert, but they used to mix cyanide with crushed ore in these vats. The cyanide efficiently extracts  the gold from the ore and is collected. The problem is that cyanide is toxic and can have substantial environmental impact (think contaminated drinking water, fish kills, and harm to agricultural areas). Do you see the soil berm against the tank, and even the plume around it without much growth that looks kind of peach-colored? That's cyanide tainted soil. I honestly don't know if I'm at any risk being out here on a windy day, but you probably wouldn't want to spend a lot of time out here.
 

This large ramp is about 20 yards from the tank. Just an educated guess, but wagons or old trucks would probably go up this ramp to dump their ore for processing. The Dale Mining District is not too far away, and perhaps this mill processed the ore from some of those mines.

View from the top of the ramp. See those big concrete structures on the left? There was big machinery here of some kind. My guess would be a stamp mill, which is used to crush ore. Makes sense: Drive up the ramp, dump your ore to be crushed, then put the crushed ore in the vat to be mixed with cyanide to extract the gold.
 

Here's what I came for: The Giant Funnel!!

 

Near the giant funnel is this old rusty truck cab.

 

I climbed in to take it for a spin. It was a tight squeeze! 

 

Not far from the Gold Rose Mill/giant funnel/old truck cab is an area I'll call the Gold Rose well. Again, just an educated guess, but I'm thinking there was a well and pump on this concrete slab. The tank to the right was probably a water tank. There was also a good sized cabin or house at this site (gone now), and there is corrugated metal sheeting all over the place, along with old car parts. The metal sheeting was either used for cabin construction, or perhaps at one time the well had siding and a roof, with the metal sheeting attached to those iron poles.

 

 

 

 

Having thoroughly explored the area, there wasn't much more to do. I hike back to the Giant Funnel area and decide I'll do two Milky Way attempts (one over the funnel and one over this old truck cab). But I'm not feeling very optimistic with all those clouds! It's about 6pm, so I eat my PB&J sandwich. Then I put my tarp and sleeping bag down and wait. By about 8:30pm I climb into my bag and try for sleep, but it doesn't come. The optimum Milky Way time is about 4-4:30AM. My phone alarm is set for 3:30AM. I toss and turn all night, and I don't ever remember falling asleep. Every time I check my phone, time seems to be moving glacially slow! By 3:15AM I'm stiff, sore, and grumpy, and decide I can't lay in this stupid mummy bag on the hard ground another second! But guess what? The sky is clear! That's really good luck, so now I get down to the business of focusing my camera in the dark, taking multiple images for stacking later, taking foreground shots using my headlamp for light painting, and all the other fun stuff that goes into Milky Way photography.

I'm pretty happy with this photo. Actually, I'm very happy to have captured anything at all. The clouds could have easily sent me home empty handed. I had a clear, dark sky with decent visibility. My camera settings were: 17mm focal length, f2.8, ISO 10,000, 10 second exposure. Using such a high ISO, I was pleased that there wasn't too much noise in the photo. Keeping the exposure to only 10 seconds keeps the stars sharp.

 

I would have loved to have had the giant funnel angled over a bit, so it looks more like the stars are flowing in and out of the funnel, but it was too heavy for me to push. All in all, I'm very pleased with this one, and what a beautiful Milky Way! 

 

I was finished by about 4:20AM, and the thought of getting back in my cramped mummy bag and trying (again) for sleep seemed like a waste of time. I decided to pack everything up and hike back to my car in the dark, just using my headlamp and phone GPS. It's not an easy hike in the dark, but I made it back. What a night. Wow, was I exhausted! Crazy as it sounds, I'm pretty sure I'll be out again for next month's Milky Way to do it all again!!

 

Thanks for stopping by!!

Linking with Skywatch Friday.