|
Back at the beginning of March, 2021 I signed myself up for an online class on Milky Way photography. I have always been fascinated by the night sky and by some of the photos of the Milky Way that I have seen taken by others. This class offered a mini course for free up front and I picked up a lot of information from that and enjoyed the instructor so I figured "why not?" Over the following month or so I spent time taking some photos of the Milky Way from various places along the south shore of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. There is way too much light pollution along the northeast coast and since the Milky Way was mostly to the south and east at that time of year, shooting over an empty ocean seemed the best solution. I got some pretty shots and learned how to make them even better by doing some post processing using the Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom and Camera Raw applications.
I had a trip to northern Arizona planned towards the end of May and was looking forward to seeing what kinds of shots I could get out there. I explored several locations using various online mapping software as well as some other websites that show light pollution. I would be staying in Flagstaff during the week I was out there so locations close to Flagstaff, or within a hundred miles or so, were of primary interest. I had been looking forward to doing a hike in the Canyon while out there but had not done much hiking over the winter and was very much out of shape. There was also a heat wave going on in the Canyon which did not interest me so much. So I came up with the idea of doing this hike along the East Rim Trail at night. I had walked most of it in sections, between shuttle stops, over the years but had never done the entire trail from Grand Canyon Village to Hermit's Rest all in one go.
One slight problem I was going to have was the Moon, which was currently in its first quarter phase and was not supposed to set until around 2am. Bright moonlight typically does not mix well with Milky Way photos and tends to drown it out. So that plan was to start this take at 11pm and get some photos on the Canyon under moonlight until the Moon finally set. I was hoping to have a nice dark sky by around 230 or 3am to get some Milky Way shots before the sky would start to brighten from the coming sunrise.
I drove up to the Canyon from Flagstaff so I could be there for sunset but then I still had over 3 hours to kill before it was time to start the hike. I started out from Grand Canyon Village at 11pm under a very bright moonlit sky. I had a headlamp with me but I did not need it much early on because the moon was so bright. My first stop was just beyond the Trailview Overlook, about 3/4 mile from the village. There was a very nice view of Grand Canyon Village from higher up and the cliffs there were catching the moonlight nicely. I was surprised when I discovered I could still make out some of the brighter patches of the Milky Way even under so much moonlight.
From that first stop I continued west and made another stop at Hopi Point to take some more photos. The village area was out of the picture by that time but the Canyon was still lit up nicely. Further on I walked out to the Powell Memorial but did not take any shots from there. I took some more photos from Hopi Point but decided not to use any of those. Next stop was Mohave Point and I did manage to get a pretty good shot from there. It was just after 1am by the time I got there and still had about an hour before the Moon would set. I took a little rest there and broke out some cold pizza that I had brought along for a snack.
From there it was a long walk to Pima Point. The Moon set during that portion of the hike and it then got pretty dark and I was hiking with my headlamp. A lot more stars began to appear once the Moon went down and I knew it would be very dark by the time I arrived at Pima Point. I did manage to get some really nice shots from Pima Point and spent a while out there. I was in no hurry since it was just getting close to 3am and I only had a little more than a mile to Hermit's Rest.
I arrived at Hermit's Rest a little before 4am. I got some nice photos there and was happy to get one with the Milky Way over the Hermit's rest arch. When I finished shooting I still had over an hour to kill before the fist shuttle bus back to the village would arrive. I thought that was supposed to be 5am but it turned out to be 515. It was a chilly wait for the bus as the wind was starting to pick up with the approaching sunrise. The sky started to turn the most beautiful shades of deep blue as sunrise approached. I ended up waiting over next to the curio shop for most of the time since that was blocking most of the wind. When the bus finally did arrive the driver was a little surprised to see me. She said that she often had people going out to Hermit's Rest during the first run in the morning but not often did she have anyone waiting out there for a ride back to the village.
I got back to the village a little before 6am and there was still nothing open. I was hoping to get something to eat for breakfast but no such luck. Nothing was open yet in Tusayan either so I would just have to wait until I got home to Flagstaff.
It was a very nice night and I am happy with the photos I got. I highly recommend the nighttime hike along the West Rim Trail and doing it under a full moon would probably be very nice as it would be up for the entire night. Unless of course you are looking to get some Milky Way photos as a full moon is not going to work for that.
All photos were taken with a Nikon D750 camera
and a Rokinon 14mm, f2.8 lens.
ISO 3200
Exposure times 15 or 20 seconds
A few others from northern Arizona...
Milky Way over ruins
from Two Guns, Arizona
|
Milky Way over
San Francisco Peaks
from Kendrick Park, Arizona
|
|
