Southern Utah

I've lived in Northern Utah most of my life and I'm sad to say that I haven't spent a lot of time in Southern Utah. We took our family to Moab and Zions, but I'd never heard of Hanksville until 2023. There are crazy landscapes and it looks like Mars or the moon or something sci-fi really.

Last fall I went to Hanksville with Austin James Jackson and really enjoyed Escalante. In 4 hours it felt like I was in a different country and it really was an amazing experience. So I decided to try shooting the Milky Way in the spring and go back.

I knew nothing about star trackers or shooting a pano of the Milky Way, but Austin was an excellent, patient teacher and was always there to answer questions and help the whole time. We had a great group of guys and I was so happy to not drive the washboard roads toward Hole in the Rock. Crazy roads.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the trip. Of course I take too many and can't decide which are the best. This time I put the Milky Way in a bunch of them. I also took up my drone. It was so windy Sunday and Monday that it beeped at me whole time to land, but I got some shots anyway. I'm still a beginner drone flyer, because it stresses me out to fly it and I can't ever see it the whole time.

I'm going to go back this June with my kids to Capitol Reef. It's really great to have amazing scenes around.