Almost Heaven?

Almost Heaven. West Virginia’s recreational moniker. Is it though? The time for change was present so I went on a mission was to find a new playground to explore. And I succeeded. I had never explored West Virginia before, in my mind it never had the appeal of Maine, The Whites, The Smokies or the Blue Ridge. The mind plays tricks on us all the time regarding what is there and what is not. Perceptions develop, influences creating half truths emerge and you are left to wonder why would one ever want to experience something negative. The thing is perceptions are like assumptions, often miscalculated, bordering on pure fiction. I am here to confirm that West Virginia is as gorgeous as those ads say it is.

West Virginia is also home to three dark sky parks in the US, apparently, as I was informed by a local pro, it is also one of the cloudier places in the country. Plan away, but understand that part of your journey may come with a some disappointment. The clouds come out of nowhere! Mini Mountains… That was one of the main draws for me to this area. Five days spent, no night sky for me. The treasure trove of day trips commence.

I chose Watoga State Park as my base of operations, situated nicely in the middle of two other locations I had on the hit list. NO cell service, NO internet, NO TV. Sounds almost like heaven to me. Arrived early in the evening, checked in and went out for some provisions for the cabin before it got dark. Let’s emphasize before dark. The roads were of the windy, hairpin bends, up and down if you do not know them tread lightly variety.

I had a loose itinerary for the trip and the first stop was out to Cranberry Glades for an easy stroll through a field and down to a wildlife viewing area. After a day in the car it was a great way to loosen up the legs before the fun began. I did not do this daisy any justice but I thought it was cool just standing there in a field of yellow.

Got to the viewing area and immediately had memories of going on walks with my dad and uncle for there in front of me was beaver town. Been a while since I have seen one but I thought it was pretty developed from the ones I remember. They were yapping quite a bit so I hung out for a little while waiting for one to show itself but no luck. It started to rain so I headed back to the car.

I headed down the road a bit to Falls of Hills Creek. The trail here is less than a mile, easy right? The 380 steps to the bottom were slippery but it was going back up that was fun. They are spread out decent so it is not really that bad if you take a couple of breaks. (Gasping for air). The first fall was visible, but contained too many obstructions to photograph. The next two were perfect.

Middle Falls
Lower Falls

Very cool first day , managed to take in a lot of scenery. Cruised the Highland Scenic Highway, had clouds, rain and more clouds so I had relegated myself to no night skies this trip. When I got back to the cabin I had this dude waiting for me. It hung out every day during my stay which leads me to think I am on it’s chosen property.

Thank for stopping by, Day two coming soon!

Phil

One for Two

The weather put a damper on my adventures in Maine but I did manage to get in a couple of decent days in the White Mountains before heading home. Seems to be a common theme with me and these trips. Acadia then the Whites. This one may be the last time I make this journey, well, for while. I will be turning my sights elsewhere for future solo journeys which hopefully will not be solo. Natalie did say she is interested in a spot in West Virginia I am eyeing up so we will see if the city beach girl is up for an adventure there.

The four hour drive from Bar Harbor to North Conway provided me with ample time my first day in the Whites. I was able to check in early at the hotel and this opened up even more time for me, so I did something I would rarely ever do. Paid admission to an attraction. I did not have any hikes planned out, I had already seen the falls I wanted capture in previous trips and I figured I had two hours to kill so I purchased a ticket to The Flume Gorge. It was actually a cool way to spend the time and it turned out to be very educational. A few falls and a bunch of huge glacial boulders and a visitor center filled with information, pictures and relics. The park made you really embrace the history of the area. And it was not crowded. Ahhhhh, peacefulness. Totally worth the $18 admission. And I thought it was going to be cheezy, oh how wrong I was.

I came away with a few photos, the first being Avalanche Falls. It is a very photogenic place but you do have a walkway to contend with and when people are milling about it is hard to include in the composition so you get what you are given. Still nice to look at.

Since it was the middle of the summer the flow of water was subdued, I would certainly like to experience this during the spring thaw. The decrease was especially noticeable at Liberty Falls

My favorite look in the park was the covered bridge and cascade running underneath it. This in the fall would be magnificent. It’s like I am talking myself in to going back.

After the park it was time for an early dinner at Gordi’s then off to grab a sunset. Before the sunset though I stopped by a little pull off and grabbed this little diddy. Probably about as artsy as I am going to get here.

My sunset location for the evening was at the Pemigewasset Overlook on the Kanc. This was more crowded than the park but I got there early enough to have no one in front of me. To the side and behind yes, but all clear in front. I have been trying out circular neutral density filters lately but I have found they are not as forgiving as regular filters are. I brought my Lee’s with me just for this type of shot. I think I had a 0.9 soft grad on for this one.

Turning out to be quite a busy day considering I got into town around 13:30. It was the only clear and not cloudy or rainy day of the trip. So, setting off on what I made the trip up for I went down the road a bit to set up for the night sky. While not as dark as Acadia it was gorgeous. Met a local and asked him about other locations to grab and he was kind enough to let me in on a few spots so they will be recorded in the notes for the next time. This years Milky Way adventures did not turn out at all like I was hoping. Weather has been terrible and it is now mostly in the southern sky so that will negate almost any location possible in NJ. So because of the interruptions I guess my Milky Way education will be continuing for another year. Tragedy eh? I think I learned mostly about positioning this year. Still have a couple more months to go so there is hope.

I finally made it up to the top of Mt. Washington – by car- other times it has been closed or only 4200 feet access. The weather is wicked. The clouds are wicked and there was a bunch of them at the top. Like nearly a white out. After walking around a bit and checking out the museum I went down to a pull off a few hundred feet below the summit.

Can I tell you again the clouds are wicked. I could have watched them all day long. Rolling right through.

Next one is just because clouds are cool when they are at eye level. Even though we are right now under a Tornado watch in NJ, I adore Mom Nature.

Shortly after I got back down to the bottom it started to rain, so the rest of the day was shot. One shot of the Milky Way, two different locations. Could have been worse. Make the most of what is in front of you!

It was a trip back to sea level for me the following day to await the next journey.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Phil

Never Give Up

My working title and placeholder in my drafts as I began this was “Without Success”. A mid summer trip to Maine proved to be unfavorable to its intended purpose of grabbing some photos of the Milky Way in a dark sky location. I went up for a three night stay and every night was either cloudy or rainy. Quite the drag. My second reason for the short trip though, was to reacquaint myself with a few spots and a general scouting mission for a trip up in the beginning of October. I have been to Acadia three times without my wife, and our schedules finally fell in line for both of us to get away. I promised her a trip to see the milky way with her naked eye. Mother Nature please be kind to us.

Arriving on a Tuesday night I had a little bit of time before darkness fell so I cruised into the park to check out my spot then jetted off to Jordan Pond to check out the last few minutes of the setting sun. Does anyone even say jetted still?

Darkness fell and the night was a total wash. Covered in clouds. But I did scope out a couple of other spots along the road other than Sand Beach to hit up in October. And of course make sure they were doable in the dark. The next day I just drove around the park a bit, biding my time until a slotted 14:30 reservation to go up Cadillac Mountain. I did manage to find the quintessential coastline shot I keep seeing in the advertisements. So why not?

And just because, the rear bay/lake/pond behind Otter Cove. Nothing special, but there had to have been twenty or thirty people on the actual Otter Cove side while just me on this side of the road. A very peaceful few feet difference.

So reservation, you now need to secure a spot to go up the mountain. I get it, and although not over crowded, it was still crowded. The past two trips were sparse, active but sparse. This one was just filled with an insane number of people. Anyway, Cadillac Mountain. The goal was to tool around up there until the sunset. It was nice for a while, then came the clouds and no colors to be had. And no night shooting…

On way way down I did see this very interesting bit of cover which I had to capture. Clouds just hovering over the islands. No where else were they that low.

My plan for Thursday was to drive up to the Mt Katahdin area and check out the views from the Katahdin Loop Road. Well, yup, you guessed it. Clouds and rain. The start of the loop is very discernable, a good sized lot on the left and this on the right. I captured this on my way out, had to get to the overlook before….

I arrived at the overlook just in time to see the peak of Mt. Katahdin disappear into the clouds

I did get my adventure in though. The loop road is 16 or so miles of packed dirt, pot holes, rocks and gravel. That is after the 5+ miles of logging roads you travel to get there. It was fun, hardly anyone up there, very remote. Had to cut the agenda short because of the rain though. But since I was 3 hrs away from Acadia I had to get in at least one waterfall before I left.

Shin Pond Falls is a very short hike once you find the trail head. It is flat until you get to the falls so no problems there. My old man cautious self kicked in, well mostly, so I did not go seeking vantage points other than what was given me. This is a view of the upper falls. I actually dislike shooting from the tops of falls.

The lower falls. It was a sketchy trip down the hill just because of the rain. Angled wet roots scare me. Between my tripod and a small guide rope to hang on to when needed it all turned out OK.

So my goals in Maine were not met, my efforts, while altered were not wasted. One day, I will get mother nature on good behavior for me when I am shooting. Never Give Up! Spent a couple days in New Hampshire after this. Follow up soon.

Thanks for stopping by

Phil

Lavallette – #5

I do not think anyone in their right mind would head over to Lavallette and attempt to grab shots of the Milky Way. It is just not dark enough. Sandwiched between the Seaside and the Brick/Point corridors it is an area with copious amounts of illumination in the sky. Well, I guess I am not a sane person then. I am a very curious type though and when learning opportunities present themselves, sometimes you have to go outside the box.

I remember there being a few jetties off the beach in Lavallette, so I went to where I thought a couple were, but I could not see or find them. Note to self – Update list of Jetties in town. No Jetties means somewhat boring views. HHmm. Here I am trying to talk myself out of going there after the fact. I knew there would be light pollution, no biggie. It is practice.

00:29 16 mm 15 secs, f4, 3200

Well that is certainly not going to work. The human psyche is a fragile beast. You know all the shots are going to be crap, you know why you are there, but it behooves us to do the best we can and overcome the odds. Since I could not find my boulders, waters edge it is.

00:36 16 mm 20 secs, f2.8 3200

So much light coming in from Seaside, but there she is, looks visible to me. Well, visible to the camera, I cannot see a damn thing. My goal for the night was to get some longer exposures of the foreground and try to stack some images of the sky. I am still not grasping this stacking thing, perhaps it was because of the brightness in the sky I could not tell a difference. I actually appreciated the single shots more. Continued education needed.

Sky 7 images at 10 seconds, foreground 90 seconds

Here is a single sky shot blended with the same foreground. Learning what not to do…

I think more than anything, we learn what not to do and them adapt our to do’s. Is that called trying? There is always something to adjust, every location is different. The two week viewing period for June is rapidly approaching, I have three spots I am eyeing. One is common, one is popular but could be hit or miss. and one is, um, different. We will find out soon enough.

01:49 17 mm 15 secs f4, 6400

Happy Memorial Day Weekend! Rain, rain, and more rain. Thanks for stopping by!

Phil

Batting Clean Up, Holgate Beach

I heard the median batting average is .246 for the entirety of MLB. WTF. Pitchers unite! This is a shocking number. Anyway, my Milky Way cleanup, commonly known as the fourth attempt, happened while I flexed my hours at work to get off an hour earlier than normal. Thursdays are a peak day for me, swing shift as some would call it, so I am always working till midnight. I headed down to the southern tip of LBI to see what I could see. I have grabbed a couple of sunsets here so I was familiar with the location and structures on the beach. Most people convene at the other side of the island by the Lighthouse. I will try that eventually, but since I am not most people I like to try the unpopular or less traveled spots. Hard to come by here in NJ due to the limited night spots in the immediate area. The initial thing I saw when I shut my car lights off was Atlantic City glowing in the sky. Gulp. Amazing how much light is put out from a small city. Casinos…

There was also a very bright street light probably a block or two away from the other direction that was casting some wicked light in the area in front of me. Was not expecting that scenario but we shall adjust. I could have walked out a bit on the beach and got out of it, mostly, but I am still a bit sketched being by myself late at night in an isolated spot. These are weird times we live in. You can easily see the line from that light here. I do not remember the steel wall from when I was here last. Probably paid no attention to it then.

I spent about an hour (1 – 2 am) – shooting different compositions before calling it quits. A few clouds low on the horizon too. Overall I would say it was a successful mission. Nothing print worthy yet, but right now I am developing a good understanding of everything involved. I did try stacking some photos and did not really notice a difference, grabbed a few extra longs of the foreground as well which ended up not being that much longer than the sky shots. Average settings were f2.8, 15 seconds and 6400

Ok, maybe one of them has a smaller print worthy quality to it. To be determined. I will do a few 8×10’s to see how they really look and go from there. It is still very early in the season for this stuff. Just started discussing a September gathering in Acadia which is always prime territory.

I was not fond of this next look when I captured it, but when looking at the big screen it kinda works out OK for casual viewing.

The perfect vantage point. If only you could see this with the naked eye. Yes I did take an obligatory selfie with me sitting on the bench which was posted elsewhere.

I was getting set to leave and decided to grab a look from right in front of my car. Why not right? I was going to try some panoramas while we are arched, but there is no way they would have worked out with all that light. And I would have been there for another two hours waiting for the stars to get into position. Hey, could have stayed for the sunrise! Not. 13 hour work days makes one a bit tired.

These were all taken on May 7. Since then, and up next, I went to an even unlikelier location. More on that to come. Thank you for stopping by! Till the next one.

Phil