posted by Doug
December 13, 2022
No, not shooting, stars. Shooting stars, you know like meteors.
I went out for a quick overnight because I was just jonesing to get out. I wish I could say I'm wise enough and thinking in advance enough to have planned to go out at the peak of the Geminids meteor shower, but nope, it just happened that way. I in fact didn't even know why there were soooo many meteors until I got home the following morning and googled it.
If you came to this post hoping to find great meteor photographs, sorry, you're going to be disappointed. I did a little night photography but 1) it was too cold to putz about for very long, 2) I didn't even know about the meteor shower and 3) my skills and camera gear are marginal at best.
So after about a 50/50 mix of riding and pushing my bike through sugar snow and a bit of thankfully hardening mud by headlamp and riding light for a few miles, I arrived at a pre-scouted spot to camp, stomped out a spot in the snow and threw down my tarp and sleeping gear. It was a beautifully cold night and very clear here a few hundred feet above the valley. I set up my camera for some night shots looking back over the valley and the mountains leading up to Lake Tahoe, then slid into my sleeping bag and had a couple cups of hot chocolate spiced with a bit a whiskey while eating a burrito brought from home. It wasn't until I rolled onto my back gazing up at the heavens that I noticed the overhead show being played out. S24O's are good for the soul.
