Milky Way Panorama over the Old Chimney
Milky Way over the Old Chimney and Tee Harbour - Sleeping Giant Provincial Park
It’s a project I had been contemplating for a while. I knew the Milky Way is low in the sky in early Spring, and I used PhotoPills to determine the time and date range the Milky Way will be roughly in the specific location seen in the photograph. Photopills also helped me determine the sky would be dark that night due to a moon rise close to 4am. So on April 13, 2024, I headed to the Sleeping Giant Provincial Park just before sunset.
The skies were partly cloudy, but the forecast had clear skies for the night, which is what I was counting on and hoping for. I was not too positive that things would go the way I hoped, and I felt a bit too lazy to carry camping gear, so I neither took my tent or hammock, nor did I even take a tarp and sleeping bag, but what I did take was an extra layer of clothes, including my winter jacket and my sleeping bag liner. I thought I’d find a comfortable spot to sit and maybe doze off for a bit and wake up close to 3am to take the photos that I’d later combine into this panorama. I also took hot water in a thermos to make coffee and some oatmeal in the morning. Winter was warmer than usual in 2024, and by that time in April, all snow was gone, so I felt I should be fine going ultra light.
As I was hiking the trail, the skies did not look great, and the clouds were all over the place. I kept debating with myself whether to venture on or call it a night and head back. As luck would have it, I was stubborn that night, and I kept promising myself that if I made to Tee Harbour with the clouds still in the sky, I’d be going back, and then it became if I made to Lehtinen’s Bay camp sites with the sky still cloudy, I’d be definitely turning back.
Eventually the clouds did begin to disperse as I was scrambling over the talus while heading up the sketchy Old Chimney trail while it was getting dark. I found the spot that would give me the vantage point I had in mind, and I set up my tripod and levelled it and took some test shots utilizing the last moments of blue hour twilight, and then the waiting began. I had some glow sticks on me as well as my headlight and a portable camp light. I sat down and made myself comfortable and made myself a cup of tea. Eventually, I laid down on a somewhat flat juniper bush and used my backpack as a pillow and my sleeping bag liner as a blanket and slowly drifted into sleep.
It was a chilly night, and I was really cold and had a restless night, but that allowed me to enjoy the beautiful night sky and take all the photos I wanted. At dawn, I had my breakfast and coffee and started on my way back.
I’d be back to that same spot for a sunrise photo-shoot later that year, but that’s another adventure that will have its own blog post.
