Originally a gold boom town in Mono County, CA during the late nineteenth-century, Bodie is now a historical ghost town. A popular tourist destination, we’ll have the park to ourselves when it closes at 6 pm.

On this night in Bodie we’ll see the Milky Way around 8:40 and enjoy full darkness by shortly after 9pm, so we’ll enjoy about 70 minutes more dark sky night photography than we get in late June. The Milky Way will be just on the east side of Main Street at nightfall, then it will cross the street so we’ll be able to capture buildings on both sides of Main Street during the night. We’ll be able to cover more subjects and compositions. We’ll have two practice nights in the Eastern Sierra with interesting subjects in the area before our Bodie night, and we’ll pursue some daytime landscapes and sunsets as well, as well as conduct a post-processing session to maximize your success.

Wildfires are a possibility all summer long, but moderate smoke can be a plus if there’s light enough smoke to provide “atmospheric effects” such as sun rays from the rising or setting sun or moon. We use a smoke forecasting app and we’ve gotten better at monitoring and predicting where a particular fire’s smoke plume will go. We’ll plan on being flexible to pursue interesting opportunities.

A portion of the proceeds of your fee goes to the Bodie Foundation to assist in their building stabilization program to help preserve the park.

Please note that Bodie is at an elevation of 8374 feet. Consult with your doctor if you have any concerns.