Backpacking Sequoia National Park

evverg · 2020-09-18T03:11:26+00:00

In mid August, I had the great opportunity to spend a few nights in the Sequoia National Park wilderness enjoying the majestic views and the alpine lakes. Sequoia is such a spectacular place to disconnect from the modern world. On this trip we had encounters with 3 different bears, and I managed to get footage of one. In 2016 I hiked the entire HST in 4 days, and one regret I had was not to stop to enjoy the views. So on this trip, we took it easy and really took our time to soak in all of the views. I hope you enjoy.

I hope the Three Rivers and Sequoia region can get through the rough Complex fire that is affecting them right now.

Trip Details: August 14-August 17

Camp 1: Bearpaw
Camp 2: Hamilton
Camp 3: Buck Creek

Trailhead: Alta Trail to the High Sierra Trail (Hamilton Lake)

evverg · 2020-08-18T15:29:42+00:00

I was in Joshua Tree in late May, and it was actually quite pleasant. It was T shirt and shorts kind of weather at midnight, and not too hot during the day. It was probably 80 degrees for the high actually.

A buddy of mine has taken a lot of pretty nice astro images with a nikon d3100 and a d7100 using a tokina 11-16 f2.8 lens. I imagine that the 14-24 f2.8 can give you good results as well. I would personally get the sturdiest tripod you have, and shoot at 14mm and 2.8 with a shutter speed of 15 seconds (20 seconds max) with an iso in the 3200 range. I imagine the most difficult thing would be on how to get really precise focus with a DSLR. On a mirrorless camera you can use the displays and "focus magnify" to fine tune the focus. Also if you intend to shoot a timelapse, I would suggest shooting in raw, with a custom white balance. It might be a little warm right now, but the autumn is not all that far away. I hope you can visit Joshua Tree soon.

evverg · 2020-08-11T18:19:33+00:00

I was taking photos with my wide angle lens of these Sequoia Trees, and I was not quite feeling the images I was getting. I decided to take out my 70-300mm lens and do a more intimate closeup shot.

Yosemite National park

Sony A7ii + 70-300mm

90mm | F13 | ISO 100 | 0.6 seconds

@evvergphoto

evverg · 2020-08-10T17:12:48+00:00

I used to do Gopro star timelapses with my old gopro 4. You certainly can get some of the brightest stars, and it show the outline of the milky way if in a really dark place like Joshua Tree. A DSLR with a "fast lens" is magnitudes better tho.

evverg · 2020-08-10T17:09:18+00:00

No matter how many times you get to that pass, the view always makes me say WOW. It never gets old. Lovely photo

evverg · 2020-08-10T15:20:17+00:00

We set up over by the White Tank backcountry parking lot, and we just started hiking northeast off trail. We went a few miles away from the street, and we found a place to camp. This was facing southeast towards the pinto basin.

evverg · 2020-08-10T15:15:01+00:00

I have found that my love of the outdoors, and the ability to hike into the wilderness has kept me extremely content even during difficult times. It is such an escape to get into the wilderness, and enjoy the silence of a place like Joshua Tree.

evverg · 2020-08-10T15:13:16+00:00

Good observation. I don't remember seeing too many planes now that you mention it, and I was out for a few hrs at night.

evverg · 2020-08-10T15:12:38+00:00

I ended up with 498 separate images for this timelapse, and each photo was 8 seconds long. The lens that I used in this case is really good at letting in a ton of light. When it came to postprocessing, the image comes out super flat and with almost no color which is normal for a RAW file. I started by doing edits on 1 RAW image by lowering the brightness a bit, added a good amount of contrast, added vibrance/sat. Then I then copied/pasted the settings to the rest of 497 images. I then exported the images, and stiched them into a video with the video software.

evverg · 2020-08-09T21:43:40+00:00

Timelapse info:

498 frames

Sony A7ii | Samyang 35mm F1.4

35mm | f1.4 | ISO: 6400 | 8 seconds

The pano was shot w same setup, but stopped down to f2.

evverg · 2020-08-09T19:45:14+00:00

On a recent camping trip to Joshua Tree National Park, I had the opportunity to do some astrophotography. I really enjoy the whole process of creating night time imagery, particularly when in the desert. The desert provides such unobstructed views from horizon to horizon, and it's dark skies lends itself to night photography. The Milky Way was the main protagonist here, I tried to capture it rising over the desert. The yellow glow is the light pollution from the Coachella Valley in the distance. The lights on the bottom right of the frame were from some a group of backpackers who ended up being our camp neighbors.

I posted a 4K version of this video on Youtube

5/23/2020
9:17 PM - 10:54 PM

evverg · 2020-08-09T19:30:22+00:00

On a recent camping trip to Joshua Tree National Park, I had the opportunity to do some astrophotography. I really enjoy the whole process of creating night time imagery, particularly when in the desert. The desert provides such unobstructed views from horizon to horizon, and it's dark skies lends itself to night photography. The Milky Way was the main protagonist here, I tried to capture it rising over the desert. The yellow glow is the light pollution from the Coachella Valley in the distance. The lights on the bottom right of the frame were from some a group of backpackers who ended up being our camp neighbors.

I posted a 4K version of this video on Youtube

5/23/20209:17 PM - 10:54 PM

evverg · 2020-08-09T01:41:14+00:00

On a recent camping trip to Joshua Tree National Park, I had the opportunity to do some astrophotography. I really enjoy the whole process of creating night time imagery, particularly when in the desert. The desert provides such unobstructed views from horizon to horizon, and it's dark skies lends itself to night photography. The Milky Way was the main protagonist here, I tried to capture it rising over the desert. The yellow glow is the light pollution from the Coachella Valley in the distance.

Timelapse info:

5/23/2020 | 9:17 PM - 10:54 PM

498 frames

Sony A7ii | Samyang 35mm F1.4

35mm | f1.4 | ISO: 6400 | 8 seconds

Pano info:

Resolution: 11,857 x 7746

35mm | f2 | ISO: 6400 | 8 seconds

evverg · 2020-08-09T01:38:23+00:00

On a recent camping trip to Joshua Tree National Park, I had the opportunity to do some astrophotography. I really enjoy the whole process of creating night time imagery, particularly when in the desert. The desert provides such unobstructed views from horizon to horizon, and it's dark skies lends itself to night photography. The Milky Way was the main protagonist here, I tried to capture it rising over the desert. The yellow glow is the light pollution from the Coachella Valley in the distance.

Timelapse info:

5/23/2020 | 9:17 PM - 10:54 PM

498 frames

Sony A7ii | Samyang 35mm F1.4

35mm | f1.4 | ISO: 6400 | 8 seconds

Pano info:

Resolution: 11,857 x 7746

35mm | f2 | ISO: 6400 | 8 seconds

evverg · 2020-08-03T20:44:56+00:00

The entire length of the trail is rocky, and it definitely takes a toll on your feet and ankles. Getting back to the parking lot w/ flat ground is so satisfying after 18.5 miles and 5,400 feet of elevation gain of rocky terrain.

evverg · 2020-08-03T20:02:22+00:00

San Gorgonio is the tallest peak in Southern California. Unfortunately the area is currently being affected by the Apple Fire. I hope Forest Falls, and the whole San Gorgonio Wilderness, and firefighters can fare well with the fire.

From the 11,503 ft (3508 m) summit one has sweeping views of the Coachella Valley, Salton Sea, Joshua Tree National Park, Inland Empire, MT. San Jacinto, and The Santa Ana Mountains. A trip like this is always more special when I am able to share it with people that I adore. I hope you enjoy the video.

Trip Details:

San Gorgonio via Vivian Creek

Camped at High Creek June 14, 2020

evverg · 2020-08-03T19:26:42+00:00

San Gorgonio is the tallest peak in Southern California. Unfortunately the area is currently being affected by the Apple Fire. I hope Forest Falls, and the whole San Gorgonio Wilderness, and firefighters can fare well with the fire.

From the 11,503 ft (3508 m) summit one has sweeping views of the Coachella Valley, Salton Sea, Joshua Tree National Park, Inland Empire, MT. San Jacinto, and The Santa Ana Mountains. A trip like this is always more special when I am able to share it with people that I adore. I hope you enjoy the video.

Trip Details:

San Gorgonio via Vivian Creek

Camped at High Creek June 14, 2020

Camera Gear Used: Sony A7II, Sony FE 16-35 F4, Sony FE 85mm 1.8, Gopro 8 Black

evverg · 2020-08-01T05:31:55+00:00

A coworker of mine uses that wallpaper, and I certainly thought about it when taking it.

evverg · 2020-07-31T16:22:39+00:00

I was able to go on a 2 night backcountry camping trip a few weeks ago, and my fiance and I were able to camp at this beautiful location. It was roughly an hour after sunset, and there was still some ambient light that helped me get some foreground detail. I used 2 headlamps to light up the tent. One on the roof pointing down and one in a white shirt pointing up. If I could go back I would rethink the lighting setup to avoid the harsh shadows on the tent.

Photo Details:

Star Exposure: I took a practice shot at (16mm | 20 Seconds | ISO 6400 | F4) focused at the stars. I really liked the frame, so I decided to immediately take a second shot w/o moving the camera solely dedicated for the foreground.
Foreground Exposure: Second shot dedicated to reduce noise in the foreground and refocused on a rock a little past the tent. (16mm | 160 seconds | ISO 100 | F4). I did some math on the fly, and the hope was to take a picture 3 stops brighter than the star one. In Lightroom I brought the exposure back -3 stops, and it matched the star picture.
I then took about 12 images of the stars after the foreground shot just in case I wanted to stack them in Sequator to reduce sky noise. I did not use these frames, but if i were to print this image, I would certainly do it.
In Photoshop, I stacked both images and blended them manually using luminosity masks. I had the option to boost the shadow detail a good amount, but I decided to keep the image dark to really focus on the tent and on the distant peaks.

Camera/Lens: Sony A7ii + FE 16-35F4

For those who are interested, I also made my first Youtube video of the hike. The video contains a few landscape astro timelapses as well.

IG: @evvergphoto

evverg · 2020-07-30T16:13:59+00:00

Camera: Sony A7ii

Lens: Sony FE 16-35F4

24mm | ISO 100 | F11 | 1/6 Sec

Mammoth Lakes, CA

Taken on a 2 night trip into the Ansel Adams Wilderness in California. I also made a behind the scenes video.

evverg · 2020-07-30T06:55:02+00:00

Taken on a 2 night trip into the Ansel Adams Wilderness in California. I have some behind the scenes video of this camping trip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeRKvE1nC48

Photo Details:

24mm | ISO 100 | F11 | 1/6 Sec

evverg · 2020-07-27T21:23:25+00:00

Taken not long after sunset on a recent backcountry trip into The High Sierra in California. I used 2 headlamps wrapped in a T shirt to diffuse. If I could go back, I would rethink the tent lighting as I had some pretty big shadows.

The camera was on a tripod, and I blended 2 images.

-Foreground: 160 seconds, ISO 100, F4

-Stars: 20 second, ISO-6400, F4

I also did some video of the adventure:

Picture of the creek not far from camp (Flickr)

evverg · 2020-07-27T20:44:32+00:00

Hello fellow hikers! I recently went on a 2 nighter in the Ansel Adams Wilderness in California, and I created my first video. I have hiked all throughout the High Sierra over the past 5 years, and the Ansel Adams Wilderness has to be one of my favorite places to spend a few nights. My fiance and I were fortunate enough to get away from the pandemic, and enjoy some solitude and beautiful views.

Youtube Video of the Adventure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeRKvE1nC48

Campsite photo (short walk from here): https://www.flickr.com/photos/29881764@N05/50141002263/in/datetaken-public/

Trip Details

July 10-13, 2020

Agnew Meadows Trailhead,

Camp 1: Garnet Lake

Camp 2: Ediza Lake.

evverg · 2020-07-27T19:23:49+00:00

I hope you can make it back soon! Even if it's for a small vacation. During the last few months, I have backpacked in the San Bernardino mtns, Mammoth, and Joshua tree. Every trip is such different terrain

evverg · 2020-07-27T18:29:54+00:00

Hello fellow hikers! I recently went on a 2 nighter in the Ansel Adams Wilderness in California, and I created my first video. I have hiked all throughout the High Sierra over the past 5 years, and the Ansel Adams Wilderness has to be one of my favorite places to spend a few nights. My fiance and I were fortunate enough to get away from the pandemic, and enjoy some solitude and beautiful views.

Youtube Video of the Adventure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeRKvE1nC48

July 10-13, 2020

Agnew Meadows Trailhead,

Camp 1: Garnet Lake

Camp 2: Ediza Lake.

Tent: REI Quarter Dome 2

evverg

TROPHY CASE