Jess on the Wild Way

Okay I am VERY proud of that starlapse. 🥹🌌
I’ve wanted to learn how to capture the night sky like this for a long time and while I am absolutely no professional astrophotographer, I am pretty freaking thrilled with how this turned out.
I drove 9 hours to camp on the Alvord Desert playa, which also happens to be under some of the darkest skies in Oregon.
There was just one problem…
I just so happen to time this trip (of course 😅) under an almost full moon.
So I waited for the moon to set, set an alarm for the wee hours of the morning and crawled out of my nice warm car at 3:24 AM to try to get the shot.
And because my old Sony doesn’t have a built-in intervalometer, I sat there and manually took 105 long-exposure photos one. at. a. time. Every 10 seconds. 🥱
When I finally got home and stitched them all together… IT WORKED.
Four whole seconds of stars moving across the sky and I could not be happier about it.
The Alvord Desert has been on my list for a long time and I’m so happy I finally made the drive out there.
What a happy adventure.

Google Maps and I are currently not on speaking terms..
On my way up to Burley Mountain Lookout, Google decided it could save me SIX MINUTES by sending me over an absolutely wild forest road pass that was completely unnecessary.
And because I apparently have too much faith in technology, I followed it.
There was a solid stretch where I was sweating, and genuinely wondering if I was about to get myself stuck in the middle of nowhere.
And that six-minute “shortcut” turned what should have been a 3-hour drive into FOUR HOURS. 😂
Eventually the road connected me to the forest road leading up to Burley Mountain and somehow… we made it. 🙌
It worth it!
I had the entire place to myself, so I spent the evening sitting inside this old 1934 fire lookout watching the sun disappear behind the Washington mountains and practicing my photography. 📸
The sunset was fantastic, the mountains were quiet, and it ended up being one of those nights that reminds me exactly why I love being able to throw everything in my car and just go.
And just to add a little chaos to the story — on the way back down I took a DIFFERENT route that was mostly gravel and approximately 900% less terrifying.
So thanks for the six-minute shortcut, Google. Really appreciate that.
I also saw an OWL and TWO BEARS on the way out!! All three disappeared way too quickly for me to get them on camera, which feels incredibly rude considering I make videos for a living.
Anyway…
I love nights like this. 🥹🏔️

The world may never know.

I didn’t watch it. And don’t plan on wasting my time like that. I’ve heard enough about it from women I respect 🫡

3 a.m. wake-up, anyone??
🥴
Bushwhacking. Frozen fingers. Slippery climb. Fell straight on my ass on the way out (Thanks tree branch you’re the real hero here.) Zero chill.

But worth it to finally catch this reflection of Mount Rainier
That cloud sure looks like a storm rolling in 😉

Who else is out here trading sleep for experiences?