Like some of my other trips this one was kind of winging it. I had been looking at it for a while and finally I decided to backpack into Joshua Tree. After some research on fees and rules I found that there were boards to sign in so that your car / truck would not be towed but that was about it no back country fees or permits needed. I pulled some maps offline but they were not to good. But what ever I could figure it out on the fly and its a Notional Park - way better marked than some places I have ended up.... I stuffed a nights worth of food, gear, water and my camera equipment - the heaviest part since I was taking two DSLRs to test my newest one - into my pack. I checked the weather and it was supposed to be high 60s - perfect for a light weight summer sleeping bag. I like when its cooler. Unless the weatherman lies to me.... Like he did... All in all with water about 25-35 pounds I would guess. I was surprised how quick the drive was with no traffic. I was also surprised by the amount of people who were going into the park on a Friday. There was a decently long line to drive in and there was a constant flow of traffic on the roads for the most part. I found the parking spot I wanted to leave my truck at and the board with the slip to fill out to let the rangers know you were out over night. That done I just kind of bummed around various trails and saw the sights for a bit. When I had enough screwing around I chugged a power aid to keep my hydration up and took off into the desert. There was a nice breeze and it was not to hot so that was nice. I did not have to haul as much water as I thought I would need to. I hiked about 4 miles from the road point to point on a map but about 6 or 7 on the ground. Some of the trees on the trail. Spiky bastards.... Watch where you sit.... After messing around and taking pictures I figured I should set up camp and line up my shot before it got to dark to see. This looks like a good place.... Tent poles are always fun when your alone, but I got it done and strapped down. No one around for miles... Love it. Time for some dinner - boiling water for the Backpacking dehydrated chicken teriyaki . Testing it for the Argentina trip coming up. It was decent to good tasting. This little burner got 2 cups of water to a boil in about a minute. My stove at home wont even do that. Ok camp is set up. Food eaten. Road soda sipped. Time to test the new camera.... Here is the first image. I shot it with a lower ISO in order to move up the scale to find out where the sweet spot is between the image brightness and the loss of sharpness. I need to go somewhere extremely dark and play with it more but this gives me a good reference point. As a bonus If you look at the three pictures you can see how much the earth spun and moved in reference to the milky way just during my shooting. Not bad... Higher ISO but also turned the auto white balance on... Usually I set the white balance to give the sky the deeper blue color. The photos are also compressed and not full scale due to size limits on this site. This is more what I was working to do. I still have a lot of work and need a new photo editing program. Mine is very out dated. Also the city lights in the distance hampered my shot but unfortunately that's what I had to work with. Time lapse I threw together, definitely need brighter shots for this kind of stuff but this was an after thought to what I was really trying to do. One last shot - star trail about 80-100 shots merged into one. It was about this time I realized two things. The marines were launching artillery at 29 palms - yes I could hear it rumble in the distance - and more importantly, the weather man had lied to me... It was not high 60s in fact not even in the 60s, It dropped into the high 50s. And I had what was essentially a thick sheet for a sleeping bag because like an idiot I trusted the weather man. I slept good I just shivered a bit a few hours before dawn. I also got to deal with some curious critter that was scampering along the tarp I use a ground cover... Heard him skittering along and just whacked the side of the tent and he ran off. At sunrise as I started to pack up my gear for the couple hour hike out. It was a beautiful morning. Clear and cool All and all a good trip. Little chilly, but I got to test my new camera and see what it could really do. I need one more night to fine tune everything based off what I learned but now I have my starting points. Cant wait to also update my software.
Up next - Patagonia Argentina for Thanksgiving and then Yosemite for Christmas.
1 Comment
Kate
12/8/2016 09:04:55 am
My favorite photo is definitely the purple-y one that you described "This is more what I was working to do. I still have a lot of work and need a new photo editing program. Mine is very out dated. Also the city lights in the distance hampered my shot but unfortunately that's what I had to work with. "
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December 2016
AuthorDirt roads, getting lost, dark nights in the middle of no where and photographing adventures. Travel
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