Death Valley in September – October

I visited Death Valley in late September this year to see what it might be like to run a fall workshop in 2019. Guess what… it was hot! How hot was it? It was so hot, even the rattlesnakes seemed to have heat exhaustion (photo below). High temperatures of 95-102, and still up to 90s at night, were unseasonably hot for either September or October. I wasn’t inclined to stay too long in the unusually hot temperatures, but even in a heat wave, I learned a lot.

Ambient temperature has a big effect on sensor heat and noise. It was fun to shoot the Milky Way in this compass direction, but I’ll be able to do a better job on return trips that aren’t during an unseasonable heat wave!

Looking at seasonal and astronomical opportunities for late 2019, I selected late October and mid-December for trips to Death Valley. We’ll have all the usual exotic landscapes in Death Valley, plus the unusual opportunity of evening Milky Way shooting in October, then low angle winter light in December. Come join us!

For the October 19-24 Death Valley and Milky Way session, the following lodging options are available:
October 19, 20, 21 Base: Stovepipe Wells, Lodging options:

• Stovepipe Wells Resort https://deathvalleyhotels.com/
• Motels in Beatty, NV
• Stovepipe Wells RV sites (reservations), NPS discounts available
• Stovepipe Wells campground (first come, first served)

October 22, 23 Base: Furnace Creek, Lodging options:

• Furnace Creek Resort: try SENIOR20, SILVER25, AAA, AARP discounts
• Motels in Beatty, NV
• Furnace Creek Campground (reservations) NPS discounts available
• Fiddler’s Campground RV/tent sites $24 (reservations)
• Sunset or Texas Springs campgrounds (first come, first served)

Meals are not included, but we’ll eat together in restaurants convenient to our itinerary.

I’m working on draft dates for 2020, prices and registration coming soon. Sign up for availability notification for your best chance to get the session you want!

Wildlife encounters are always special in the Death Valley area. Staying up in Beatty one night to access cooler temperatures, I came across two rattlesnakes one morning not far from Rhyolite, Nevada. Simply lifting random pieces of metal in the desert is definitely not recommended! Knowing that I might find a rattlesnake instead of a harmless gopher snake, I grabbed the metal where my finger wouldn’t stick down and resemble the heat profile of a mouse. I stood far enough back to avoid a possible strike. Finding two rattlesnakes was a nice surprise!

No snakes were disturbed while capturing this image. They never moved when I first took a photo with my mobile phone, or after I returned with a DSLR and appropriate lens to capture them at 200mm from 4 feet away.