There are only a handful of places on Earth like Hot Creek's active geologic setting in California, which makes it a nice addition to your next adventure when you visit Yosemite. Within the shallow gorge, groundwater heated by subsurface bodies of molten rock (magma) reaches the surface and mixes with the cool waters of Hot Creek, creating a picturesque environment with otherworldly features. Below the hot springs, healthy populations of fish thrive off the abundant nutrition generated by the consistently warm waters of the creek. Delicate rock formations created by the precipitation of minerals rim the hot spring pools. Like most geothermal springs, the area is constantly changing and evolving. Once-active geysers and springs are now dormant or extinct, and new springs appear annually. Earthquakes can cause sudden geyser eruptions and overnight appearances of new hot springs at Hot Creek. If you are thinking of a nice Finnish sauna, swimming is illegal at this location due to the rapid fluctuation of water temperatures, as changes of 200 degrees F ( i.e., 93 Celsius so it will boil your eggs!) over mere seconds have been recorded within the stream. Again like most places I have been fortunate enough to visit, I was unaware of this place and the potential for astrophotography. Thanks to my friend Wisanu, I was able to not just visit it but also spend time taking in the grandeur of all that has been created. The only negative about this place was that bright light in front of the mountains on the left. That is from a local airport. Not a deal breaker but would have been nice to not have that element of artificial light. The rest of the ground is lit by pure unadulterated star light. Now the jargon: Sony a7RII Zeiss Batis 25mm/f2 22 shots went into this 3 frame vertical panorama. Top third of the image: ISO 10000, 25mm, 10s at f/2.5 10 exposures Median Stacked Middle third of the image: ISO 10000, 25mm, 10s at f/2.5 10 exposures Median Stacked Ground: Single long exposure ISO 800, 25mm, 125s at f/2.0 I left the Long Exposure Noise Reduction on in the camera for this shot since it was the last shot of the very long night. Processed in Capture One Pro and Photoshop
When on a long road trip and especially while starving, one of the nicest experiences one can have is to be greeted by a friendly waiter who serves good food and regales you with some local legends. We met one such person at a nice Bakery/Restaurant in Lone Pine, California. I can’t recall what I ate but it was well done and presented. The onion rings were to die for. More than that, I recall the affable waiter who recounted how he lived in Dallas for sometime in the 1970s before moving westward and ended up living near Alabama Hills. He seemed genuinely happy with the decision. More than that, we had a picturesque view of a mountain out the window and I asked him if that was Mt. Whitney. He told us that it was actually Mt. Langley and showed where Mt. Whitney was. He then said that the first guy who was trying to scale Mt. Whitney climbed Mt. Langley instead. But the first summiteer of Mt. Whitney was actually a drunk local fisherman who took took a bet to climb Mt. Whitney and did so before lunch. Now that is the word of mouth story. The story that is published goes this way: In July 1864, the members of the California Geological Survey named the peak after Josiah Whitney, the State Geologist of California and benefactor of the survey. During the same expedition, geologist Clarence King attempted to climb Whitney from its west side, but stopped just short. In 1871, King returned to climb what he believed to be Whitney, but having taken a different approach, he actually summited nearby Mount Langley. Upon learning of his mistake in 1873, King finally completed his own first ascent of Whitney, but did so a month too late to claim the first recorded ascent. Just a month earlier, on August 18, 1873, Charles Begole, A. H. Johnson, and John Lucas, all of nearby Lone Pine, had become the first to reach the highest summit in the contiguous United States. As they climbed the mountain during a fishing trip to nearby Kern Canyon, they called the mountain “Fisherman's Peak”. In the picture you see Mt. Whitney framed by the Mobius Arch. The bright light on top of the peak is actually Jupiter that was setting. Jupiter which is usually the second brightest object in the sky after the moon was looking like it is usual very big star appearance until the moment it just started to go behind the mountain. I am not sure if it was the partial obscuring of the planet but Jupiter did balloon up before it disappeared behind the tallest mountain in the Sierra Nevada range and the highest summit in the contiguous United States. Sony a7RII Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2 41 exposures ISO 10000, 25mm 10s at f/2.8 Four Horizontal Frames stitched into Panorama Each Frame median stacked with multiple identical images to improve Signal to Noise Ratio Processed in Capture One Pro and Adobe Photoshop
