Sierra Milky Way

 To this point, all my attemps at Milky Way photography have been done in the desert. But while planning for my recent Sierra hike, it was brought to my attention that we might want to attempt capturing the MW over beautiful Sierra mountain peaks and alpine lakes. That was certainly a motivator for me, so I packed my heavy DSLR and tripod, even though I knew I was going to have a hard time lugging it up mountain trails. It also turned out that our hike coincided with the new moon, so I figured it was certainly worth a try!

Using the PhotoPills app on my phone, I figured this area on Long Lake would be a good spot. I have to give Mitch credit as well. He had the original "vision" of the MW spilling into Long Lake, and that ignited my interest. According to PhotoPills, the MW should be over the center of the mountain peaks and also over the center of the lake around 10:30-11PM. I was worried about the clouds blocking out the stars, but I figured I would set my alarm for about 10:15PM, step out of my tent, and assess the situation. If I see clouds, I'll just crawl back into my sleeping bag! I'll be camped at this location for two nights, so there's always tomorrow night.

 

I was also prepared for mosquitos. All I had to do was put this fancy get-up over my head and I'm good to go! Fortunately, the mosquitos were light and I didn't have to wear it often.

 

Ring-ring-ring. 10:15PM alarm. Getting in and out of an ultrilight one-person tent is harder than you might think. There's barely room to sit up at one end of the tent. Shimmying out of a sleeping bag takes me a while, then pivoting around to exit the tent feet-first takes gymnastic moves my old joints just can'd do anymore! Eventually I crawl out from my tent and know instantly it's going to be a great night. Big smile. The MW is very visible, no clouds, and probably the darkest sky I have ever seen!

Exactly what I was hoping for! A beautiful MW over the Sierra peaks, with stars reflected off the water. It was a perfectly calm night with no breeze, so the stars were reflected beautifully. Initially I fumbled around for a while. It was so dark that I couldn't see anything through my viewfinder, which means I couldn't frame the photo. Solution: Point the camera, take a photo, and adjust as needed. This took a while, but eventually I was satisfied with the composition. This is just my camera, tripod, and a single image. No blending or taking multiple images. When the sky is this dark, it makes things easier!

 

Vertical format, with the stars spilling into Long Lake. Beautiful! This was taken at 11:11PM. After this photo, I knew it was a good night. I hiked back up to my tent and slept soundly until daybreak.

 

The next morning I could tell Mitch was anxious to find out how things went. I think he was convinced the cloud cover would ruin things, so he elected to sleep in and wait for night #2. When I told him it was really a good night, I know he was kicking himself for not joining me!

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Day Two at Long Lake

 

Day two was even cloudier than day one, but we figured that, just like the first night, it would eventually clear (fingers crossed).

We set our alarms for 10:15PM. When I got up, I could tell Mitch was upset about something. Turns out the "head" on his tripod (which connects tripod to camera) was missing, and he had no way to use his tripod. No tripod means no MW photos. It was a huge disappointment, but he elected to get up anyway and join me at the lake's edge under the stars. I told him one of my "photo visions" was for him to be sitting in my camp chair, back to the camera, so it would appear he was sitting under a beautiful MW sky contemplating the universe.

It turned out to be my favorite photo from the trip!

 

Thanks for dropping by!!

Linking with Skywatch Friday.