Monday, March 18, 2019

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, March 8, 2019

I have a few wildflower hikes to post, still, but this one should be faster. I drove up into the Las Vegas area on a Saturday. I had previously checked sunset times and the hours the scenic drive in Red Rock was open. I had been wanting to get some night sky shots of the area for a while, but was stymied by the limited road hours. They really don't want you here after dark!

But it turns out, based upon the changing sunset times and shifting road hours, there are a few windows of opportunity to legally be on the road when the sky is significantly dark. The first window I was aware of was in early March. On March 1, the road hours extend from 5pm winter hours to 7pm. If you visit before the change to daylight savings time, you have (by March 8) over one hour after sunset to get out off the road.
Took about a dozen shots, mostly relatively short exposures. The sky is far from dark, so a fast lens and long exposure would blow out the sky.
Earlier in the afternoon. I had intended to hike Icebox Canyon. I figured with all the recent rains, it would be impressive. But I forgot to assure a pair of socks to go with my hiking boots. Given all the rock hopping, I definitely wanted my boots. But I wasn't willing to use the boots with no socks.
With either flip-flops or sockless athletic shoes, I chose the latter. With that set up, I was willing to walk from the Icebox Canyon trailhead, back up the one-way road, then along the stub road, then the short and easy trail to Lost Canyon waterfall.
Round trip walk was probably about 2 miles.

Then I drove to the Pine Creek trailhead, and waited for dark. Shot with my Nikon D3400, 18-140mm lens at 18mm, f/4, iso 1600, 15 seconds. Some shot horizontal, some vertical.

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