St Mary's Glacier Hike
This past weekend we hiked up to St Mary’s Glacier in an attempt to get Star Trails and a Milky Way picture. The lake is located above Idaho Springs around 10,000’ in elevation and can be reached by a 1 mile up hill hike. There is a $5 parking fee but when we showed up there were no more envelopes so we risked not paying and did not get towed or receive a ticket. We did put a notice on the dash letting them know we tried and that there were 2 adults hiking. I try to put a note in my car anytime I go for a hike just in case I do not return people will know who to look for. The glacier is a very popular hike due to the beauty of it and short hike. It is also popular with back country skier/snowboards looking to extend the snow season. They can reach these snow hills with a hike and ride down. If you look closely you will find lots of tracks
Be prepared! Even though the hike is short it is at a very high elevation and has a lot of elevation gain in a short distance. We knew that the temps would drop quickly and were prepared with coats, hats and gloves. We were also prepared to hike back in the pitch dark by carrying multiple head lamps and flash lights. We made note of all the trail markers on the way up to ensure we headed back down the same way
Unfortunately the clouds did not cooperate once the sun went down. We were greeted with mostly cloudy sky’s in the South / South East skies and were unable to get the Milky Way shot we went for. The evening was not wasted though due to getting images like this and we were still able to see the stars in the North sky, plus watching the skier/snowboarders riding.
To get this shot I set my camera on a tripod and used a remote shutter to not shake the camera. I used aperture priority mode and metered on the back side of the lake to get lots of area in focus. I started at f/7.1 and adjusted from there letting the camera decide the shutter speed. I knew I wanted to be in the 25-30” range to get a smooth reflection in the lake and ultimately stopped at f/11 which got me lots of the image in focus and achieved the longer shutter speed.
For the other 2 images this required similar setup but using a remote shutter to constantly take pictures. Then using a technique of blend mode in Photoshop I stack the images to get the start trails
Find me on Instagram too
https://www.instagram.com/lockechris
https://www.instagram.com/locke_psd
Specs:
ISO 50
30” Shutter
f/11
16mm
Middle Image
ISO 1000
30” Shutter x 24 images
f/2.8
16mm
Bottom Image
ISO 12500
30” Shutter x 40 images
f/2.8
16mm
Gear Used to get this picture
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV - https://amzn.to/2MVNArJ
Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 III - https://amzn.to/2AHHYis
Tripod Manfrotto 190XPRO - https://amzn.to/2B6edHV
Remote Shutter - https://amzn.to/2UKfhbn
Think Tank Airport Essential - https://amzn.to/3e8Hvo7
**Amazon links are affiliate links that allow me to make a small commission if you purchase the same gear.
