Copyright © 2014 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Some friends and I went camping in North Eastern CA over the week-end to take advantage of the Moonless nights, and get away from light pollution which is ideal for night sky imaging. I got lucky and saw quite a few falling stars throughout the week-end.
The sky was so dark that ISO 3200 wasn’t enough to bring out more of the Milky Way’s light. I made adjustments the following evening. In this image the Milky Way is just rising above the mountains and was still too light out to get the rich detail of the gas, dust, and dark vein of the Great Rift, but I want to share the falling star that was streaking along the MW that I captured. Though faint I thought it was neat.

Nikon D700| AF-S Nikkor 17-35mm @17mm | 20 seconds| ISO 3200| Manual Priority| Tripod

Travelerette enjoying the view of the Stanislaus River. This was right behind our campsite.

Our campsite was in a Walk-in campground.  There were 10 campsites, with one Vault toilet, no potable water, and tent camping only. Fortunately, we were able to get a spot with shade and on the river. No reservations; this campground is “first come-first serve.

My tent is on the left under a big pine tree. It’s a Big Agnes 2. I have plenty of room for me and my stuff.  The tent set up is color coded so, it’s a breeze to set up.

I took my old Red Rider wagon which made hauling our gear to and from the campsite a piece of cake. The hike in was about an 1/8 of mile…maybe a wee bit less. The days were hot, but not unbearable, sitting in the shade I got chilly, the nights, and mornings were chilly, but by 8AM both mornings I was shedding layers. We met some lovely people all were also from the Bay Area.

more to come…