this afternoon i sat down and scheduled my campsites for my state park visits. i had to pay money, so i guess i’m actually going to do this*!
at the end of the month, i’m heading down to rochester so i’ll pick up a few parks on the way. then i gotta get moving!
june 9 i’ll be camping in split rock creek, which is in the very southwest corner of the state. after the derry reunion, i’ll head north, camping at zippel bay on lake of the woods on july 24, then lake bemidji on july 25. august 11 i’ll be at jay cooke and the 12th up at judge magney.
that last one is the key. after reading “the end of night” i’ve become slightly obsessed with lighting and our night skies. according to a dark site finder, magney is in a dark spot with an expanse of darkness to the south (lake superior). i even checked my weather calendar to make sure the moon phase, moonrise, and moonset were appropriate for a dark sky.
this is PRIMO milky way viewing and photographing. I AM SO EXCITED. i am so obsessed with getting some good shots that i’ve got a weekend in september set aside in the horrible event of cloudy skies. so on top of visiting all the state parks this summer, i guess i’ve tacked on “photograph the milky way”.
i’ll have to do some star shooting beforehand to get back into the groove of that and make sure i remember how to do it. it’s a lot of rigamaroll to get a camera set up for star shooting, but the effort is worth it!
(oh, and i’m looking into upgrading my personal camera to a full frame. we’ll see what happens!)
*i will see SO MUCH of MN this summer. i may even pick up the four counties that i haven’t visited!