Milky Way Over Pinto Wye Hideout

The Park Service likes to remind people during the summer that "half the Park is after dark." So true, and it's just too hot to safely hike during the day. If you follow me, you know I love being out in the desert under the stars.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Just to recap... In last week's post, I was scouting the Pinto Wye area for possible locations to photograph the Milky Way. The rock shelter nicknamed "Pinto Wye hideout" looks like it might make an interesting foreground, so here I am, back in Joshua Tree National Park in the Pinto Wye area. It's late afternoon on a hot day (in the '90s), so I've picked a short hike and I'm carrying lots of water.

I've often said how fun and educational it would be to hike with a geologist. In an area dominated by sand-colored granite boulder formations, I come across a large outcropping of white quartz! Why here? How was this formed? I continue my hike as I ponder these questions.

Not too many things flowering in the desert in the late summer, so this was a pleasant surprise. I'm hiking straight ahead, above the sloping hill, and nearly to the base of the distant mountains. It's not a far as it looks!

 

It's about 7:30PM, so I put down a tarp, sleeping pad, and light blanket. I have no plans to camp overnight, but the Milky Way won't be optimal until about 1:30AM, so I will have lots of time to kill. I figure at some point I'll want to take a nap, and this looks like the perfect spot! The hideout is right around the corner.

After sunset, I start experimenting with some lighting in the hideout. I have an orange filter I'm using on my LED light, hoping to make it look a little like a campfire. Soon I'll set my alarm for 1AM and try to get a couple hours sleep.

 

Warming my hands by the "campfire".

 

Here's my first photo of the Milky Way and I'm super happy with it. Wow, did I get lucky! The slope of the Milky Way complements the rocks over the hideout perfectly! Earlier, I took some photos of the rocks when there was still some ambient light, supplemented with light from my headlamp. The camera (on a tripod) was never moved, so I'll be able to easily blend photos of the rocks (with focus and exposure on the rocks) with the MW sky (with focus and exposure for the stars). It makes for a much more interesting photo than just the dark rock silhouettes, and it's also similar to what my eye was seeing at the time of the photo.

 

 

 

It's about 1:30AM, and I'm having such a good time, I decide to pack up my gear and see if I can find a particular big, healthy Joshua tree that I had shared on last weeks post. Navigating in the dark by headlamp is challenging, but I think I can find it.

 

After some effort and a couple pokes from cactus spines, I find what I'm looking for. This big Joshua tree looks beautiful in the light from my headlamp. The light washes out the sky and you can't even see the MW. Next, without moving the camera, I'll turn my headlamp off and focus on the stars. Later I will blend the two photos (see below) and hopefully the Joshua tree and the stars will be in focus. For those who are interested, I'm shooting with a 16-35mm 2.8 lens (set at 16mm and wide open at 2.8); ISO is 6400 with a 10 second exposure time.

 

Blended images (foreground with sky).

 

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoyed my MW photos!

Linking with Skywatch Friday.