Utah - Feb 2012 - Day 6

Before the trip began, the weather was supposed to be clear and sunny each day.  So, we were planning to do some astro photography.  Now, here we were on Day 6 and we had seen no clear nights. Undeterred we still hoped for the one clear night.  We had read on the internet that one of the darkest skies in the US was in Natural Bridges; a Bortel Class 2 sky. 

On this day, it was snowy and the weather called for an all day snow.  Not to be deterred, we decided to drive through a blinding snow storm, for about 2 hours, to see Natural Bridges.  From this reconnaissance, we would determine if we would drive 2 hours and 20 minutes on Friday night to shoot the Milky Way.  At this time we still were not sure what time the Milky Way would rise.

As we neared Natural Bridges, remarkably, the sky was opening up.  However, once we arrived there was a full squall in progress.  About an inch of snow came down in a short space of time.  Cheri looked around the visitor center.  We decided to take a ride around the 9 mile loop even though it was snowing.

We struck off, and as we arrived at the first look out point, the skies started to clear!!  Cheri hopped out of the car and started shooting.  As we would continue around the loop the skies cleared to full blue!  There were three arches in the park and we intended to see them all.

Cheri hiked down to Owachomo Bridge and shot this HDR image.

On the way out of the park, John shot the Bear's Ears.

As we neared the Visitor Center, we decided to stop in one more time and look at their Dark Sky information.  This is when we met Gordon, the resident astronomer at Natural Bridges.  He was a great guy who willingly shared his passion for astronomy with us.  They had a "night sky" wheel on sale for $10.95.  This handy little device shows when the Milky Way and the constellations rise each day and night.  Armed with this and information about moon rise and set, we were able to plot a course for shooting the Milky Way, BUT only if the skies cooperated!!

We started the trek back as the skies closed in again!  How lucky were we to have blue sky?!  In Monticello we stopped for a pizza and chatted with the proprietor.  She suggested we stop into the lower part of Canyonlands to see Newspaper Rock on the way back.  So we did!  The light along the way was perfect and the deer were all around!

 Newspaper Rock was a place filled with Petroglyphs (see above).  They think it has been here for around 2000 years!!

Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Cheri and John