3 Night Milky Way Extravaganza - Trona Pinnacles, Alabama Hills, Bristlecone

Monday the 26th is Memorial Day.

Friday day 1:
Drive to Alabama Hills. Lone pine hotels book up very fast. Please reserve a room if you are staying in a hotel asap. I recommend booking a fully refundable room just incase.

I’ll be shooting cyclops arch probably. We’ll meet at the parking area by 6:15pm. It’s a short 15 minute walk to the arch. have a LED panel to light up the inside of the arch.
2nd optional meeting location and time for those who arrive earlier and want to caravan into Alabama Hills, 5:45pm outside Totem cafe on Whitney Portal Road.

Saturday day 2:
Optional sunrise in Alabama Hills followed by optional breakfast. I’ll probably have to do Totem Cafe because they allow dogs.
Then head to Bristlecone fairly early to explore before night photos. It’s about 1.5 hour drive from Line Pone to Bristlecone. I’ll be grabbing an early dinner/late lunch at Coppertop BBQ in Big Pine on the way around 3:30. I hope to arrive in Bristlecone by 5:30-6:00 to allow plenty of time for hiking and scouting.

There are tons of trees in Bristlecone. I added a picture of 1 I took years ago. This tree is in the Patriarch Grove. It’s a 12 mile dirt road to get there. I’m not sure how well the MW will align this early in the year but I can tell you where this tree is if anybody is interested, let me know. It’s fairly close to the parking area so minimal hiking is involved.
It may be tricky for all of us to gather around the same tree so feel free to split up but please use the buddy system. I plan on exploring the Schulman grove because I haven’t been there before. The Discovery Loop trail in this grove is about 1 mile long.

Sunday day 3:
Drive to Trona Pinnacles. We’ll check into the hotel first. Then, we’ll meet at Fish Rocks CA-178 in Trona at 6:00pm. We will probably lose cell service after this spot. I don’t have exact coordinates but I’ll be shooting from a hill before turning left to go to the main parking lot. It’s about a 20 minute drive from fish rocks to shooting location.

Monday day 4:
Optional sunrise and hotel breakfast. Then head home.

I’ll be staying at the best western plus frontier motel in Lone Pine for Friday & Saturday nights. Then Sunday night I booked the Days Inn by Wyndham Ridgecrest.

I recommend downloading offline maps of all areas because cell service will be limited. I will create a group text a few days before to provide any further details.

Sunset is at 7:55 and Milky Way core is visible starting at 9:50.

4 wheel drive vehicle is recommended but not required at both locations.

Event may be cancelled last minute if weather is not permitting or any other unforeseen circumstance.

By voluntarily participating in this event you agree to release and discharge in advance Lacey Horner, and any other organizers or event hosts, from any and all liability. This liability waiver includes but is not limited to illness, injury, death, damage, and loss to yourself, your guests, or any of your personal property. You are responsible for your own safety and assume all risks that may result from participating in this event.