Night sky
Now that the summer is around the corner, it is a good time to see Milky way galaxy's arm across our night skies (if you are in the northern hemisphere). During the summer months, we will be looking directly into the core of our galaxy; the sky will be simply strewn across with countless stars and it will be a joy to watch. All those stars are right there but they are visible only from specific areas.You have to pick a spot that is far from the city lights and other forms of light pollution (factories / frequent traffic) to view most of these stars. From April to early October, the galaxy's arm will rise from South (or South-west) direction and put up a good show of stars and dust before it sets on the other side.
The above image will be the sky view during our summer nights and the below one give the glimpse of winter night sky. Both the images are courtesy Google maps (satellite view) - you just have to zoom out far enough from your PC / laptop to get this view. On a side note, they have nice 3D map views of Moon and Mars as well. They have got the sky / constellation views programmed to perfection (Kudos to the Google earth team!).
In California, I have had chances to experience this blissful night-sky in quite a few places, best of them being Lassen Volcanic National park closely followed by Yosemite National park especially the Glacier point area and then the Anza-Borrego Desert State park. There are a number of other places from which you can see this wonderful night sky - places like Death Valley, Joshua Tree National park to name a few.
Anza Borrego Desert state park
If you are in the LA / San Diego region (south bay and further south), then Anza-Borrego desert state park is your nearest go-to place to view the night sky. It is almost 2 to 2.5 hours drive from LA area and located towards South-East; have to take I-15S and 79S while driving from LA. I strongly recommend people to plan for a night's stay, if you are purely going for night sky view. I have not got an opportunity to explore around the area but I believe there is nothing much to do apart from wine tasting, balloon rides (in Temecula) and some snow-related activities (during winter). Should plan a separate visit to explore the area.
Sculptures in the wild
What makes this an amazing place to photograph the night sky is the 130 life-sized metal sculptures that are strewn across the park. The sculptures represents the life-form that roamed around the desert some millions of years ago; except the 350-foot dragon - everyone loves huge dragons as long as they are not fire-breathing.
The following image gives an overview about the sculptures in the park - red-dots represent some of those sculptures.
The statues provide stunning foreground to the night sky. Though there is light coming from nearby Borrego springs area, it is very minimal and will not hinder the night sky's view.
Few images from my trip to that place during a new moon day on the month of May 2016.
Dragons
Rams
The corresponding GPS co-ordinates of these sculptures can be found in these links - dinosaurs, dragons and the rams. It is tough to locate them in Google maps and on the ground, especially during the night time and hence please keep these locations handy.
Note that camera captures more light due to longer exposures. Though we may not be able to see the stars and dusts like what the camera sees, we will still be seeing quite a huge number of stars in the night sky - especially around the milky way's arm area.
Camera settings
The above images of dragon and Rams are taken with my K-x + Rokinon 14mm f2.8 lens @ 14mm and f2.8 with 24 seconds exposure and ISO of 12800.
Directions
As mentioned earlier, it is a 2.5 hours drive via I-15S and 79S from LA. Temecula is in the mid-point of this route and hence you can take a short break there. From San Diego as well, it takes almost 2 hours to reach this place. However from LV, it takes more than 5 hours to reach this one.
Accommodation options
Borrego Springs area has some nice boarding and lodging facilities. If that area is full, I would recommend to stay in and around Temecula valley, which is around 70 minutes drive from the state park.
Camping details can be found here.
Food and facilities
Once again, Borrego springs area has got some American diners and pizza joints as well. That should serve as a decent place to stop by and have some snack. However, if you are coming after 10 PM, then there will not be much options available in that area so please plan and bring appropriate food and water as well. I believe that the Temecula valley / I-15 should be the nearest places with something to eat during the late-night / odd hours. There are quite a few gas stations available in the park.
Things to watch out for
First and foremost thing that you have to check for viewing the night sky is the weather. Check the weather forecast of that area during the night that you are planning to visit and proceed only if there are very few clouds or a clear sky. Don't go on a cloudy / rainy or stormy nights where the sky will not be visible. I did this mistake once - decided on a random new moon day to visit this at 3 PM - reached that place around 6 but it was too cloudy till 9 PM so drove back to LA by 11:30 - 11:45 PM but my next visit to this park was pretty calculated one - we had a 4 hour window of clear sky and we utilized it fully. The weather report from Google cards / search was pretty useful; look for the hourly forecasts and watch out for changes in the weather as you get closer to your visit.
Secondly, as the name suggests, this is a desert area so if you are coming for day-hikes during the summer or just for some stroll around the area, away from the civilization, then I would recommend appropriate water / fluids to replenish your system. Bring a flashlight, if you are coming to exploring the night sky.
I am not sure whether there is any fee to enter the desert park since we entered it around 1 AM, we were not able to find any check posts / signs for fee collection. Since I have not visited this place during winter, I am not sure about the winter temperatures and accessibility of facilities during winter in this area. Please research well before visiting.
On our trip, there were some excellent folks, who could drive like Dom and others in Fast and Furious series of movies. We started from LA around 10 PM on a Friday night and reached that place 1 AM on the Saturday morning, enjoyed the night sky till 4:30 - 4:45 AM and drove back to LA by 7:30 AM the next day.
Larger version of my images from this trip and several other trips can be found here. Research well before you visit. Have a safe trip!
