louisianajones Loc: Fairfield, CA.

I found a link a few months ago here about a place for sky photography I think in Colorado. I thought I had saved it, apparently I didn't.

I am driving from Louisiana back to California in a couple of weeks and would like to check it out.

anyone here remember it, or saved it?

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

I did a search of "sky photography Colorado" for you. The list is at:
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/search.jsp?q=Sky+photography+colorado&u=&s=0

gessman Loc: Colorado

[quote=louisianajones]I found a link a few months ago here about a place for sky photography I think in Colorado. I thought I had saved it, apparently I didn't.

I am driving from Louisiana back to California in a couple of weeks and would like to check it out.

anyone here remember it, or saved it?[/quote

Is there something in particular that you're interested in that was explained in that link or what? Maybe one of us Colorado people can help if you can be a little bit more explanatory.

louisianajones Loc: Fairfield, CA.

Mogul & Gessman, thanks for the reply.

Sorry about the delay in response. I has a plumbing disaster today, its better now.

The link I saw listed two places that were possible the two best places to photograph the night sky. One was on the continental divide I assumed in Colorado, I am not sure. the elevation was fairly high and it was cool and dry. Good for night shots. I would like to check it out on my way back to California.

I have tried searching several times, but the original post was aboutp night shots and general questions.g the post a another reader wrote had the link in it.

I really blew in not saving the link. Sorry I don't have better info.

louisianajones Loc: Fairfield, CA.

Sorry for the sloppy typing, I'm on my phone. kind of sucks for typing.

gessman Loc: Colorado

I don't recall seeing that link you mention but I've not been real active on uhh lately. I will say that there are advantages in shooting at altitude as long as you are away from areas with a lot of ground light from a town or whatever. About anywhere along the Divide works or anything close to that anywhere along the Rockies, including New Mexico. What route are you planning to take going back to CA?

gessman Loc: Colorado

Barring rain or snow, it's usually cool and dry in the mountains so that's not an issue. Those places mentioned may have been on top of Trail Ridge Road, Independence Pass, or possibly on top of Mt. Evans, I'm guessing, if they referred to some place in Colorado.

louisianajones Loc: Fairfield, CA.

I will pick up a friend in Oklahoma city so we will be on I40 but a are willing to go up to I70, I think it is, to go through Colorado. I am sure there are many good places along the way.

gessman Loc: Colorado

Man, that's a dilemma. I don't know what you're looking to shoot necessarily image-wise. You can get some good night shots about anywhere along the Divide but you do have to get off the beaten path to avoid light either from towns or cars. I'm just wondering if you'd find it to be worth your while to go a few hundred miles out of your way to get some shots and if you'd ultimately be content that you were well rewarded for that effort.

With either I-40 or 70 you're going to dead end into I-15 well south of Fairfield and short of being able to shoot a comet or some particular phenomenon, I'm not sure I'd feel like it was worth it if it were me unless you just have time to burn. If you come on up and hit 70 it's a 50 mile haul to the Divide from Denver to the you the Eisenhower Tunnel or you can veer off and go up over Loveland Pass to look for complete darkness but you'd want to time that for 1 or 2 in the morning, most likely and that'd sure mess up a night for you. Now, if you've got a telescope you want to hook your camera up to, that's another matter.

Independence Pass, Trail Ridge Road, and the road to the top of Mt. Evans are all closed 'til Memorial Day next year and going on top of Loveland Pass will take you to about 12,000 ft and there are a couple of places off that road where you could get back far enough to do some timed exposures without car lights ruining 'em for you. There are places at about that same height up on Mt. Evans where you can get darkness after about 10 p.m. but that's off the beaten path and sort of a dead end situation of 'up and back down' kind of thing. If you're planning on spending the night in the Denver area, that'd work out pretty good for you and getting there is fairly simple but you'd probably want to waste a night if you do that.

Timing and location are everything. I have no idea what equipment you have or, again, what you're looking to shoot but getting behind the mountains and early before the moon rises is key. You can do that on Mt. Evans depending on the phase and timing of the moon. If the moon is out it'll affect your images a lot. If you want shots of the full moon, that can be timed too and you'd be surprised what being two miles closer to the moon will do for a good long lens. If you can let me know when you're going to head this way, what gear you'll be using, and what you'd like to shoot for, I will sort of check things out for you and let you know what you'd be in for as far as results are concerned.

I'm attaching a shot of the Hale Bopp Comet that came around back in March 1997. I've shown this here before. I went up on Mt. Evans every night for about two weeks and shot up about 50 rolls of film using a Nikon FA and a Vivitar Series 1 28-80mm lens, mostly shot at about 65mm with about a 30 second timed shot so you can get an idea of what you might get with what kind of lens. I experimented a lot with different lens and settled on the 28-80 for this task.

Oh, another thing - we got our first dusting of snow above 10,000 ft. last night, which is late, so that's something else you might want to expect at those altitudes. If that's the case, going to 12,000 ft you might want a 4-wheel drive. May not need that - it has been a dry year and may stay that way but you don't want to be caught 'hanging out there.' It will be cold, coats, possibly long-johns if you have 'em. Incidentally, I could barely see the comet with the naked eye in town before I went up so you can begin to see an idea of the benefit of being up there around 12,000 ft.

Hale Bopp Comet shot on Mar 26, 1997. The dingy white stuff at the bottom is the snow capped Divide which attests to my altitude

louisianajones Loc: Fairfield, CA.

WOW, lots of information. I never expected this much info.

A little background. I am retired, currently 62, my friend also retired is 71, I think.
I have a 60D, (cropped sensor) 17-40 f4L, 24-70 f2.8L, and a100-400 L with me. And a tripod. I had the idea to do this if I could when I let CA.
I may be there by Oct. 11 or so. we have also been talking about the Grand Canyon so nothing is in stone yet.

I was originally thinking about moon shots but there won't be much to see and it will be coming up late I think.

No coat or long-johns. Just didn't think about it. It was in the 90a when I left home.

Great shot of Hale Bopp, I remember trying to get a shot of it. It didn't work out very well.

Thanks for all the location info, I had no idea where to began. If you don't mind would you give me a call when you have the time. My cell is 707 688-0979. I think the weather could be our biggest challenge to come there.

Thanks for all the info, Mike

MtnMan Loc: ID

Right now in much of the west smoke is a problem.

Otherwise anywhere above about 5,000 ft and away from major cities can be fantastic.

My part of Idaho cleared out for a few hours yesterday after we had a little rain but the smoke is back today.

gessman Loc: Colorado

Sure, I'd be happy to call you. Is there a best time? About any time is good for me.

louisianajones Loc: Fairfield, CA.

Now would work for me or most any time today, thanks

louisianajones Loc: Fairfield, CA.

MtnMan, I didn't know about the smoke. When my son & I drove here on the 17-18th we crossed most of the mountains @ night. when we came out of Barto, CA it was quite smoggy I noticed. It could have been some smoke there also.

I didn't realize how much difference 5 or 6 thousands feet would make. I am only 2+ hours from Donner Summit so I need to plan a trip up there when we return home.

MtnMan Loc: ID

The smoke is from forest fires which are raging across the west this year.