Mount Magazine

Last weekend, Caroline and I decided to take a little trip to the lodge at Mount Magazine State Park. Which if you've never been there, is surprisingly very nice. It was actually nicer than the lodge we stayed at when we went to Yosemite (although the one at Magazine is only a few years old). The rooms were fairly inexpensive and spacious, and we had access to an indoor pool and hot tub. Our room at the lodge also had a nice view from the balcony of the Arkansas River Valley, and the Ouachita Mountains off in the distance.

I brought the new camera, and was eager to take some more pictures at night. Luckily there was no moon, so the sky was filled with stars. It was nice enough at the lodge that I just stuck the camera on the balcony, and tried to take some pictures of star trails. I wasn't the only one, in fact there was a photographer staying in the room next to us that was out on the balcony taking star pictures as well.

It was a really nice place to take star trail pictures. After a few minutes spent getting everything set up, I just simply went back inside and relaxed in the comforts of the room while the camera went to work. Over the course of two hours, the camera took about 240 thirty second exposures. They were all stacked together when I got home to create this view. This is looking towards Blue Mountain Lake. I believe the city lights in the distance are from the small town of Havana, Arkansas (population 392).



I tried again the next night for another shot. I gave up the comforts of the lodge and drove over to one of the overlooks on Cameron Bluff. The conditions weren't ideal, strong gusts of wind would blast across the valley and hit the mountain. I tried to take enough pictures for another long set of star trails, but several had to be discarded due to camera shake. This is about a hundred shots, all stacked together. The view is looking off to the northwest, with the city of Paris, Arkansas, in the distance.



We headed home the next day, but I made one stop along the way. There is an old barn near Subiaco that I wanted to see, since it's leaning a bit and probably won't be standing too much longer.