Seeing Stars

12 Sep

I recently visited my parents’ ranch in rural Nevada during the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower.
As I lay in their pasture looking up at streaks in the sky it dawned on me that the last time I saw stars like that was when I was on the JMT. After all, I live under the orange glow of the Los Angeles night sky, so I often forget that stars actually twinkle.
We’ve spent so much time talking about the beauty of the mountains, valleys, flowers, trees, snow, lakes, vistas, and sunsets; I thought I should take a second to mention the night sky. Most days after long miles, it was often all we could do to crawl into our tents to rest up for the next day’s hike. (Unless we were below treeline and could have a fire.) But a few times, one or another of us managed to stay up for a good chunk of the night (or wake up periodically to reach out of the tent and trigger the camera) in order to get some truly spectacular time-lapse shots of the night sky.
They’re some of my favorite shots in the film (not to mention on the canvases you could chose from if you make the right pledge on our kickstarter). So next time you’re on the trail, look up from the trail to not only see the beauty around you, but the beauty above.