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.

Milky Way Summer

 

Hard for me to believe that summer is over already. Wow, that went fast! This was the summer I became re-interested in Milky Way photography (the big one in the night sky, not the candy bar😉). I had dabbled in the past and knew the basics. But for some reason it never caught on until this summer. Beginning in April 2023, I went out once a month on or around the new moon for five consecutive months. Some people say the hardest thing about MW photography is finding a compelling foreground, and getting the lighting (not too bright, but not too dark) and focus just right. So here's what I came up with over the pre-summer and summer of 2023 (all photos taken in Joshua Tree National Park).

 

April 2023: Bird Skull Rock

 

May 2023: "Big Eyes" in B&W

 

June 2023: Rock formation along Lost Horse Road

 

July 2023: "The Big Belch!" (Geology Tour Road)

 

August 2023: Old Pump House (bonus points for Perseid meteors!)

 
There you have it. These five photos represent a tremendous amount of time and effort, but if I had the chance, I would do it all again. My night photography skills have gotten much better, and summer nights under the desert stars are absolutely magical!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking with Skywatch Friday.

Milky Way Over Quail Springs Pump House

 I've hiked out to the Quail Springs pump house before (most recently HERE), but never at night. As a matter of fact, I don't think I've ever seen a night photograph of the pump house, and I know I've never seen a photo of the pump house under the Milky Way. Not many people know about the location so it doesn't get many visitors, and the number of night visitors is probably... well, let's see... zero! Anyway, the idea hit me when I was trying to think of possible interesting foregrounds for the Milky Way, and the pump house seemed to check all the boxes. The view of the pump house is to the south (as is the MW), so we can check off that box. The location should be plenty dark, and it's about 2 miles to the nearest road (so no interference from car headlights: Check ✔️). The elevation is nearly 4000', so that would help a little with the hot summer desert temperature.

On the hike out to the pump house, you pass by this old rusty relic, which is pretty cool! You are also not far from Samuelson's Rocks. Close to the rusty car is a collapsed cabin, so lots to see out in this area if you know where to look.

 

This cabin was unique in that it had a basement or cellar. It's noticeably cooler down here! Now it's just a snake den. No, just kidding, but I do look very carefully before proceeding in. Because of the rusty cars close proximity to the cabin, they very likely had the same owner. But I've never been able to find any information about the owner of this cabin. 

 

This cabin had a totally bitchen front porch, and the whole area has a very nice feel to it, with lovely desert views. Desert living at its finest! There's a very faint road that leads from the cabin to the pump house. It's likely the owner(s) of this house drove the old jalopy up to the pump house for water.

 

I've heard it said that the old timers would use whatever they could find (usually an old piece of tin from a can) to cover up holes in cabin walls, especially where there was knot in the wood that would allow air to blow in. Here's proof!

 

It's about 6:30PM when I get to the pump house. That gives me about an hour until sunset, and plenty of time to look around and get my camera and tripod set up.

 

 

The old pump still works, which is amazing to me! On this visit, it took a lot of pumping for just a trickle of water. I kept at it until the trough was about half full. I'm guessing the local critters will appreciate it! Interesting side note: Almost the moment I pumped out a trickle of water, the bees went crazy!

 

Killing time, waiting for the Milky Way to rise.

 

 

 

Until finally, it was dark enough and the MW was in the right position...

It's so much fun being out in the desert at night under all these stars! Totally quiet with just the occasional yip of a coyote. The above photo is actually 10 photos that are "stacked" to reduce noise (since you have to crank up the ISO for these MW photos). My plan was to go out at night for more photos the night after this photo was taken to (hopefully) capture the Perseid meteors. Long story, but the camera settings were incorrect (read: User error) and after taking around 300 photos, I got nothing. So I decided to go back to my pump house photos, brighten them up a little, and see if I could spot any meteors.

Darn if I didn't capture some!! Out of the 10 photos I took (10 second exposure, ISO 8000), 3 or 4 had faint meteors that could be seen. I combined them into this single image. What a nice bonus to have on my MW photos!

 

There's only one challenging part to this hike, and that's hiking open desert using headlamp and phone navigation to get back to the car. The above photo shows you exactly what it looks like. No mountains or landmarks of any kind; just a patch of light from the headlamp. If my phone navigation would malfunction or my battery died, I would have to just sit down and wait for first light. There's just no way of navigating without GPS, unless you're one of those people who know how to navigate using the stars! Anyway, all went well, my trusty phone app guided me right back to my car, and it was a wonderful night to be out taking pictures in the desert!

 

Thanks for stopping by, and stay healthy!

Linking with Skywatch Friday.

Samuelson's Rocks on a Cloudy Day

 My first visit to Samuelson's Rocks was June of 2017 (Samuelsons Rocks Part 1 and Samuelson's Rocks Part 2). Looking back on these posts, it's funny how it seemed like such a remote hike back then. Joshua Tree National Park has gotten busier and Samuelson's Rocks gets more visitors these days. It's no longer a remote hike where it's very unlikely to see another hiker. However, it's still a lovely hike and you might get lucky (like I did on this particular day) and hike all day without seeing another hiker!

 

It had been about 3 years since my last visit to the area. I had just finished my hike to the Quail Springs Pump House and still had an hour or two of daylight left. It was a beautiful cloudy day, perfect for landscape photography, so what the heck, lets go check out Samuleson's Rocks!

 

Before starting my hike over to Samuelson's Rocks, I noticed a hill with a dead Joshua tree trunk at the very top and wondered if it was a marker for something (it looked like it was carried to the top of the hill and was propped up by boulders). Hiking to the top of the hill (huffing and puffing), I didn't find anything significant other than an awesome view!

 

And even a hint of a rainbow!

 

 

Desert skies don't get much prettier than this!

 

Johann Samuelson was a Swedish prospector who was one of the most colorful and/or crazy (I suspect a bit of both) characters in the early days of what is now Joshua Tree National Park. His tall tales include being shipwrecked in Africa, taken as captive deep into the jungles by natives, surviving man-eating ants, winning the affections of a beautiful tribal princess, and discovering a huge stash of gold. After a random meeting between Samuelson and Erle Stanley Gardner (who was himself an intrepid desert exporer), Gardner was so impressed with his story that he bought the publishing rights and dedicated a chapter in his book Neighborhood Frontiers to Samuelson.

 

 

 

J.S. slept here!

 

Remains of an old corral below Samuelson's Rocks

 

The sky was getting darker and cloudier on the hike back to the car, but some patches of blue were still visible. I was expecting a cloudburst but only got a few sprinkles.

Thanks for joining me on this hike to one of the more unusual places in Joshua Tree National Park! 

Linking with Skywatch Friday.