Milky Way Over the Superstitions

This morning’s adventure started at 3am with the hopes of photographing the Milky Way over the Superstition Mountains. As you can see from above my “starry night” hunt was a success. 

Milky Way Over the Superstition Mountains

I planned this trip a few days ago. Conditions were setting up to provide a favorable opportunity to catch the Milky Way even with the Phoenix light pollution so close by. The moon was setting a little after midnight so it would not be competing against my photograph. Local weather had predicted for clear skies overnight so I made my plans for early Tuesday morning.

Going over the schedule for the Milky Way had it clearing the horizon around 3:30am. My Photo Pills app showed the Galactic Center would be high enough to view around 4:30am. My plan was set. The only variable in the mix was rather or not I could drag myself out of bed in time for all this to happen. With the help of two alarms set, I was awake this morning at 3:20am. Needless to say that was a painful wakeup but once I got going excitement took over! Out the door to bag my Milky Way over the Superstitions photo.

I arrived with time to spare which is always a nice plus. Pulling into Lost Dutchman State Park I was surprised to see the parking lot empty. I thought surely there would be some other crazy photographer there with the same plan as I had. Fate smiled on me and I had the mountains to myself. Ahhh, my place of zen. Grabbing my gear with a flashlight beaming I headed out to my location. My flashlight was sweeping back and forth on the lookout for snakes, in particular rattlers. Our warm spring has brought them out early and I didn’t want a surprise encounter. I hate snakes!

After getting my tripod setup I loaded my camera onto it and began to capture what I came for that night. The Milky Way was clearly visible across the southeast sky. Welcome back my old friend. I snapped several images while taking in the moment of the night sky and a nice desert breeze. I love the Superstition Mountains and have photographed them many times. Happy with my bounty I packed up and made my way for home. It was good to see the Milky Way back from its winter hiatus. I’m looking forward to a summer of chasing it.

Until next time…

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