Photography
If you don’t know me well, you may not know that I love ghost towns. I also love photography, though I’m just a beginner. Now that you know these things, you’ll understand why I decided to plan a short trip to Bodie State Park and Mono Lake.
I’ve recently upgraded my camera set up and have focused (see what I did there? :-D) on getting better at photography. The only way I’ve ever gotten any good at anything is by doing it, so I decided to jump in. The plan was for me to take some shots of Bodie that I could later turn into a quilt, but also to try my hand at getting some Milky Way shots near Mono Lake. Astrophotography is something I’ve never tried before, but after reading up on it, it didn’t seem impossible for me. The trip to Bodie would also allow me to try riding on the dirt, as the road in has about 3 miles of dirt to get to the park. Oh boy!
The trip
My BFG told me several times that the road was really rough and I should perhaps reconsider taking Kymani. His parents were coming to visit and he would be unavailable to help me, should I run into trouble. The plan was to camp near Bridgeport, ride to Bodie in the morning, go to Mono Lake in the evening to take my Milky Way photos, then head back to Bodie the next day, after which I’d ride on the 25 miles of dirt to a remote desert campsite in Nevada. I was, of course, nervous about my abilities, but excited to try it out and excited to see what kind of photos I could get.
The weather on the day I left wasn’t great. It was overcast and very chilly on the way up and on the eastern side of the Sierras. I made it to the campground by late afternoon and got myself set up. It was too late to try to hit Bodie that day, and I figured I’d try for some night shots near my campsite before trying my hand near Mono Lake. At 1030, the sky was clear and the stars beautiful. However, the Milky Way wasn’t up yet, so no shots of that. I did play with the settings trying to shoot the stars. When I went out to shoot the Milky Way at about 0130, the clouds were thick and there was not a star to be seen. Honestly, it was freezing, so I didn’t mind crawling into my sleeping bag!
Kymani loaded up and ready to go.
Rough road
The next morning, my water was crusted with ice, and I couldn’t wait for the sun to thaw the ice off Kymani’s seat! Things thawed out and I headed to Bodie. I was nervous about the road, but the paved part was beautiful. Finally, the pavement ended and I was riding on the dirt! I stood up on the pegs, and took it slow and easy to start. The first thing I’ll say, the road was not as bad as my BFG made it out to be. The second thing I’ll say is, I was surprised at how easy it was to let the bike bounce around under me while I stood on the pegs. The speed limit is only 15 miles an hour, so it’s not like I was racing along, but soon I was having my usual problem of trying to keep it under that limit. There WERE rough parts of the road, but I did well and didn’t even fall over.
My camp site Kymani is ready to go
When I reached the park check in spot, I talked to the ranger there about the road that goes east from Bodie into Nevada. This is the way I had been planning to go. She said she couldn’t drive it in her 4-wheel drive SUV, but I could try it on my bike. She didn’t, however, recommend it. She also told me that I would be unable to ride to the spot I had planned for my Milky Way photos, as it was deep sand. It seemed like my plans were getting crushed, but there’s more than one way around an obstacle.
Bodie State Park
I spent a few hours at Bodie taking photos and just enjoying the place. I love ghost towns and I thought it was great. I decided to leave a bit early so I could go try to look for a new spot to take some Milky Way photos since the ranger had told me I wouldn’t make it to my planned location. If I had more than just a day, or, if I’d been in the car, I may have tried to get where I wanted to go anyway. But, time constraints and the possibility of getting into trouble kept me from that.
The church at Bodie They left everything behind.
The things they left behind are fascinating. Apparently it was less expensive to start over from scratch than to move your things. They keep the park in a state of “arrested decay” and it’s really cool. I totally recommend a visit!
I rode out towards Mono Lake and on a whim took a road called Cemetery Road to see what was down there. I found a county park and decided to check out its possibility for Milky Way photos. The park had a long boardwalk out to the lake, or at least where the lake used to be. Along the way were signs telling the former lake levels. Mono Lake used to be a LOT higher! There was a sign for the original water line and I was surprised how high it was.
I followed the boardwalk to the end, and it looked like it might be a good spot to get the photos I was after. The islands wouldn’t be in them, but there were a couple of small tufas that might make it into the shots and, if I were lucky, I could possibly get some reflection off the lake. This spot looked like it would do. I made my way back to the bike and rode back to camp.
Milky Way
I left to go take my photos at about 9pm. It would take me nearly an hour to get to my chosen photo spot. I rode out to the park and got myself set up. It was difficult lining up the horizon and such when it was pitch black dark out, but I did my best. I could see the lights from Lee Vining, which was a little disappointing, and which I worried would ruin my photos, but I hoped for the best. According to the app I was using to help set up my shoot, I should be able to see the Milky Way, just above the horizon. I saw a lot of stars, but not a clear Milky Way. This shoot might be a bust.
I got the camera completely set up and started shooting. I’ve never done astrophotography before, but I had read about it. There is a technique where you take a bunch of photos and then “stack” them in post-production. I wasn’t sure how to do that, but I did take a bunch of photos in order to stack them. Then I decided to just do my best with the settings I thought would work. I took some test photos. I still couldn’t really see the Milky Way with my eyes, so I texted my BFs that this might be a bust. Then I decided to review the photos I took. I was amazed! The Milky Way was there, and it was beautiful! I took a shot of my camera with my phone and texted it to my BFs. This was going to be great.
They look kind of the same, but at different times and angles. Isn’t it cool?
I stayed out for a couple of hours taking photos before deciding I had gotten all I was going to get and headed back to the bike for the ride back to camp. By this time, it was really cold. I rode Kymani back and her dashboard kept flashing low temperature at me. When I pulled into my campsite, it was 30 degrees. I crawled into my sleeping bag but could not get warm enough to sleep. I dozed off as the sun was coming up and got a couple of hours sleep before getting up.
New plan
The plan was to head back to Bodie for more photos, then take the road east to a camp spot in the Nevada desert. However, I was tired and very excited to see my photos on the computer. Additionally, I had been able to leave my things at my campsite yesterday when I was at Bodie, but today everything would be attached to the bike, but with no way to secure it. Also, I already knew that I wouldn’t be able to ride the road east and would have to take the long way to the spot in the desert. I decided to just head home a day early. I packed up Kymani and headed home.
The ride home was great, and it was wonderful to see the photos on the computer rather than the tiny camera screen. I am super excited to go back and get more photos of Bodie. Maybe next month?