Chasing the Milky Way
I took another trip back out to Arizona in September and October 2024. This time I drove out. I have a telescope that was not getting much use at all at our home in Weymouth, because of too many trees and too much light pollution, and decided it would be better off in he dark sky community of Flagstaff. On the way to Arizona I made stops to visit some family members in New York and Ohio and also a friend in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It took me about a week to make the trip out.
I had two backpacking trips planned in the Grand Canyon where I was hoping to get some more Milky Way shots. The first trip, which was actually planned after the second one as an intended warm-up for it, was to a location called The Esplanade, which is a huge sandstone plateau just below the north rim of the Grand Canyon. I had been there a few times before on previous backpacking trips and there are some rock formations down there that I was hoping would make good foregrounds for Milky Way photos. That trip went off as planned with only a little difficulty with my water supply. The full report from that trip can be found here. The first night was a bust because of some clouds that were blocking the Milky Way from at my campsite, but the second and third nights were very nice. I had to walk about a mile from camp to my photography site for the second night, which meant walking back to camp by headlamp. I only lost the trail, which is not marked very well in places, once. The shooting location for the final night was just around the corner from my campsite so that was an easy one.
The second trip ended up getting cancelled. It was very hot down on The Esplanade during the first trip and when I got back to Flagstaff after it I had an email from the Grand Canyon Backcountry Office warning of extreme heat in the Inner Canyon. The trip I had planned was going to be a long one, on trails with virtually no shade, and I would be looking at temperatures around 110F. I drove up to the Backcountry Office the next day, intending to cancel, and wondering if there were any other options that might be feasible. The Inner Canyon was baking and there were not any other options available at short notice. Luckily, because of the extreme heat warning, I was able to get a refund on the permit.
So, now I had several days with nothing to do and had to come up with a "Plan B". I had always wanted to take a ride on the Durango and Silverton Railway, which is located in southwestern Colorado, so that's what I decided on. As a bonus I planned a side trip to Natural Bridges National Monument in southeastern Utah, hoping to get some Milky Way shots there. Everything worked out fine for that trip. I had a beautiful night at Natrual Bridges, and got some wonderful shots of the Owachomo Bridge with the Milky Way above and behind it. Getting to Ride the Durango and Silverton Railway had always been a bucket list item for me and I had a beautiful day for that as well.