Katie and I took a long weekend to go up to Valley View Hot Springs. On the first night, I woke up early in the morning to do some astrophotography. The moon didn't set until about 4am, so I had some foreground lighting, but that also washed out the sky a little. Right before 4 I got some photos with the Milky Way Galaxy that was rising in the East. I couldn't see it with my eyes but I noticed it on the photos in the morning.

During the day we went to do a snowshoe in Monarch Pass. We picked out Boss Lake thinking it wouldn't be too difficult, but it was. The trailhead for this hike starts at a more popular trailhead, so the first mile and a half wasn't too bad until we branched off onto the trail to Boss Lake. There was only one other person who had done this portion of the hike since the last snowfall. So luckily we could follow their tracks, but for the most part we were breaking trail the last mile of the hike.

The views at the lake were spectacular. The lighting wasn't great, but it was a peaceful lake. We would have stayed longer if it wasn't so windy.

The second night we were at Valley View Hot Springs, I got up to do some more astrophotography. Since the previous night was a little cloudy, I was hoping for better conditions. Although the sky was much clearer on the second night, it was also just a little breezy. With below-freezing temperatures, the slight breeze was a little difficult to stay out too long.

I ended up going back to the cabin before the moon fully set, which is too bad since it washed out a lot of the sky. BUt I still got some decent photos. I've definitely had better astrophotograph shoots than this one, but it was still fun.