If Weather isn't a factor, the itinerary will be:

          15th Sept | Secret Location

          16th Sept | Deadhorse Point

          17th Sept | Goosenecks or Muley

          18th Sept | Factory Butte

          19th Sept | Wedge Overlook

Now, other than vertical early in the evening Milky Way Photography, the other main feature of this adventure is NO HIKING! It is so nice to have locations like the Wedge Overlook, Factory Butte and Goosenecks State Park where the vertical Milky Way is visible from RIGHT WHERE WE PARKED! Without walking more than 20-feet away from the vehicle we set up our tripods! 

Locations like the secret location, Mars Overlook for sunrises or even Goblin Valley should we choose to do it will ask for minor walks. Secret Spire is about 60 yards from the vehicle. Mars Overlook is just 15-yards or more depending on where you want to stand IF we get a sunrise. And then Goblin Valley is the worst walk of them all where we have to walk down from the pavilion using large gravel stairs and then you can decide to walk in further or not and capture the goblin hoodoos that are right at the entrance. That is your call. But most likely we won't go out to Goblin Valley anyway with all our other hopeful locations.

Being the fall, an absolute brilliant perk I hinted at earlier is how the Milky Way is ready for us IMMEDIATELY at full darkness! This means that the minute Astronomical Twilight has ended, we are capturing vertical Milky Way. We are usually done and headed back to the hotels by midnight and often even comfortable in our beds by Midnight! This makes for a far less exhausting adventure. But even those few nights when I can't get our small group of THREE STUDENTS to come home to the hotel or AirBNB by midnight, you get the luxury of dozing off on the ride back with me as your chauffeur. Safely driving us all back.

This adventure we will have energy to do Sunrises SOME mornings because we are finished so early in the evening! We may only go out for one sunrise depending on clouds and desire for sleep but we will DEFINITELY go out here to my FAVORITE sunrise spot in all of Utah, Mars Overlook. We drive right up to this location and we are there, at the cliffs, enjoying the view over a landscape that is incredibly unique and alien looking! 

While we will be avoiding the weather, we hope to have a simple drive down to Moab from the Airport, from there head further south to Goosenecks State Park and then return back north up Factory Butte and sleeping in Green River. If ideal weather, we will spend two nights in Moab, one in Blanding, one in Green River and then finish off the week by seeing Sunset and Milky Way at Wedge Overlook and then sleeping in Helper, Utah where we can be really close to Salt Lake City, making our drive to the airport on our last day together easy going without any stress or really early wake-up calls.  

I will do my best watching the clouds and light to get us in the best position possible for Milky Way but wherever we get skunked that will most often mean that our sunset is going to be brilliant and if light shines through during golden hour it will make for a memorable plan-B and no one will be too sad! But our first priority is Milky Way and I will drive us as far as needed to get us those clear skies.