Milky Way at Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park

I loaded up the bike for a test run with all my camping gear in preparation for a two week extravaganza (Moto Mountain Man) with my buddy Jason. I left the house about 9:30 am Saturday and had a good deal of traffic to contend with the entire way. Nothing major, just a bunch of slow pokes.

I got to Heart o' the Hills campground on the north-central part of the Olympic Peninsula, found my spot, and set up camp. It was only the second time putting together my hammock stand, and the first time putting up the tarp/garage for the bike. I took my time - it should go up faster as I get more practice.

I rode out to Deer Park, a remote part of the Park I hadn't been to before - I will be back to camp there! It was a 12-15 mile gravel road with steep drop offs, but the campground at the end looked amazing.

I made my way back to my campsite and had dinner, a backpacker (freeze-dried) meal which was actually pretty good. That may have been the hunger talking...

I then rode up to Hurricane Ridge to catch sunset and wait for the Milky Way. There was a massive fire at the visitor center in May of this year, access is tightly controlled; however, since I was camping I had free access to the top.

There was a good deal of smoke from Canada. You can see the banding lower down by the horizon as well as the haze in the middle photo - all smoke from Canada.

I got an early start and rode Hwy 101 all the way back to Olympia. All in all, it was a good learning experience for camping off the bike, and great to get out again. Cheers,

Marc

Perseid Meteor Shower at Mt. Rainier National Park

The weather was looking good for this past weekend to go take some photos of the Milky Way and for Saturday night/Sunday morning's Perseid meteor shower.

The campgrounds were all booked solid with only a few first come-first served sites, so I took a chance after work on Friday. I loaded up the car and got to Sunrise well ahead of sunset. Unfortunately, when I went past the closest campground, it was full. So I went with plan B, which was to take photos and then go home. 

Fortunately, the Milky Way core is visible as soon as it gets fully dark, which was 10:30 or so. After maybe 45 minutes I packed up and headed home.

I knew the campgrounds wouldn't have any free spaces, and the peak for the meteor shower was 3:30 (am), so Saturday/Sunday's trip was another out and back. I made my way to Reflection Lake and basically just sat there while the camera did its thing.

The photos don't do it justice - aside from being there is way better than a photo, this is my first attempt at something like this. Anyways, I had a nice time even if the place was packed (both places were!).

Cheers,

Marc