Blue Basin Lower Trail — Attraction in Rest Lawn Cemetery

Brought my umbrella out to protect against rouge meteors 🌌👀

I visited the John Day Fossil Beds Natl Monument with my Sony a6400 during the 2023 perseids meteor shower specifically to visit the darkest skies within a reasonable distance from Portland. The incredible paleontology museum and historic barn nearby this hike alone made the drive so worth it.

I scouted Painted Hills unit and Sheep Rock looking for the best place to shoot pictures of the meteor shower and Blue Basin definitely was the most stunning.

During the day, before the crickets start screaming, this is the quietest place I've been to on earth.

So many awesome pictures from this fascinating landscape to sort through, but this spot…impossible to relay how cool and unique it is in a single photo. During the day (before the crickets start screaming) it’s the quietest place I’ve ever been in the world.

It’s been both scary and exciting embracing solo travel and particularly solo astrophotography adventures. Oregon is such an incredible state to explore. This night ended with me being escorted back to my car by a pack of very very brave coyotes.

EXIF / Info: Sony a6400 with Rokinon 12mm F2.0 Single shot: 15s @ 8000 ISO Lightroom to bring up the shadows and bring down the noise 🫶

More background: I set the camera in interval mode (after a few test shots for the composition and exposure) on my tripod at 15s exposures with a 1s interval between exposures. I take my nerd self and dance with various lights around the scene, sometimes standing still for 15 seconds at a time in an attempt to capture a clear exposure like this lucky shot.

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This place is awesome. There are 3 places to visit while in thos part of Oregon. Painted Hills, John Day fossil beds, and Blue Basin. It's a washed out part of an ancient volcanic ash deposit. It's full of copper, which colors the deposits blue and green. The same volcanic activity and erosion that made the Painted Hills made the Blue Basin. There are two trails, a lower and upper. The lower is the easier one, about 1.2 miles, and pretty easy. The upper (overlook) trail that's a bit harder. I did the lower one and it's crazy beautiful. Lots to see in the canyons and if you look carefully, you might see fossils. There are interpretive kiosks along the way with fossils under protective covers. It's super cool. Be aware it's hot and dry in the summer so...

Gradually ascends into the Blue Basin. Great hike, so cool to be right up against the blue cliffs. Totally worth the even climb. We brought our dog, however the bridges across the creek are all grated, which might be tough for smaller dogs. Our large dog managed them but he...