Milky Way Star Photography from my Camping Trip for the Perseids Meteor Shower at 10,000 ft in the Mountains of Wyoming
I’m sure you all know the feeling you get when you get caught up in the chores of day to day life and forget to cut yourself a little slack and live a little sometimes. First off, before I go any further, let me say that not once, never, ever can I remember regretting a last minute trip to the mountains and thinking “geeeze I really wish I had stayed home that time.” This was one of those last minute trips.
It was Wednesday afternoon and I was scrambling around the studio trying to get things organized for my upcoming art show at the Cheyenne Arts Festival that weekend. I knew that I probably wasn’t going to be camping after the art show to catch the perseid meteor shower and that if I was going to get under the sky for the new moon it would have to be now. At 4pm I decided to go and within the hour I had the Jeep packed up with my camping gear and whatever food was in the fridge and was on the road west.
As I climbed another 1,000 feet up the mountain I came to a stop to wait for some construction work. Twenty minutes of sitting there in the car, only 5 minutes away from my turn up the dirt road, is all it took to have that quiet inner peace the moutnains bring to you totally dissolve back into a demanding, short tempered, annoyed temperment of looking at the clock and meticulously watching the minutes inch slowly by one by one. As soon as I realized I was doing this, I knew that I was supposed to be up here. Getting out of town, literally, is vital for my metal health. Usually a few hours of quality time with mother nature is enough to turn me into a fun loving person again whos totally forgotten that she desperately needs to do the dishes, clean the chicken coop, and do that-one-thing-that’s-really-not-that-important-but-you-just-can’t-stop-thinking-about. I suppose in some way this is the base motivation behind my photography. Taking photographs, or doing an exercise in looking for beauty in the world, just plain and simple makes me happy and keeps me sane in this fast paced world. My cell phone now is miles away from the nearest tower and I happily turn it off. This sophisticated piece of technology has now been reduced to nothing more than a fancy alarm clock.
We set up camp (my trusty yellow MSR Mutha Hubba Tent), started a fire, cooked a simple dinner, and waited for the stars to come out.
There is a reason I love the mountains so much. Aside from their sheer beauty, they usually also come with minimal light pollution (and people) and a view of the stars that at 10,000 feet is literally closer to the heavens than my house back down in the valley. The light show was epic, and is an experience near impossible to capture other than to see a firefall shoot across the sky with your own eyes.
I stayed up late to stargaze and soak in the fresh air. In fact, fresh moutain air is an understatement. The wind was roaring at sunset, and continued to roar in from the west all night also, shaking and rattling my tent to its bones so the vestibule plastic sang loud rocking flapping songs in our ears all night.
Although the quiet stars and clear night appear still and peaceful in the photograph, in actuality the cool 30 mph wind had a bite to it and it was one of the first times this season I’ve had to wear my thicker winter hat and down jacket. Fall is just around the corner in the high country. My Petzl Tikka Xp 2 Headlamp lit up the tent and was our red light guide for the night (as to not ruin your night vision).
The very first rays of light on the quartzite faces of the mountain were soft, short, and sweet, lasting only about 2 minutes before the clouds diffused the rays into a blue orange glow.
The wind was still howling, and breaking down the tent required a strong hold on everything or else the tent would blow clear across the lake like a kite in a second.
As the sun came up above the trees and started to heat up the day, I took one last look up the road towards the mountains. Coffee in hand, I headed back down into Laramie happy as can be despite being exhaused with less than 4 hours of sleep. I was back working in the studio before 10am and had those pesky dishes done before noon. Sometimes I just get those wild hairs. John Muir said it perfectly: sometimes “the mountains are calling, and I must go.”
“Once you realize that the road is the goal,
and that you are always on the road,
not to reach a goal but to
enjoy its beauty and its wisdom,
life ceases to be a task and
becomes natural and simple.
In itself an ecstasy.”
– Nisargadatta Maharaj
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