Best California National Park to Capture the Milky Way
Updated: March 27th, 2021 | Posted by:Â Grace Kim
The Trona Pinnacles, just past Ridgecrest and Mojave Desert in California, holds some of the most unique and fascinating geographical landscapes. You might recognize the unique rock formations from popular and recognizable movies, such as Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Planet of The Apes, and Lost in Space. These rock formations create the holistic look of Trona that just being within the vicinity of these rocks, you’ll feel as if you’re on another planet.
Note that you do not necessarily need a 4×4 wheel drive, but it is highly recommended. You’ll be driving off-road for about 5 miles and want to ensure you’ll safely get to the site. Thankfully, we had a Jeep and it got us to the site in one piece, but can only imagine how stressful it can be for smaller cars, such as sedans surviving off the dirt road.
What are those unusual rock formations?
As you’re approaching Trona, you’ll start noticing the tufa spires, porous rock formed when springs interact with bodies of water. Rising from the Searles Dry Lake Basin, about 500 spires make up the aesthetic of the pinnacles. Some of these even stretch up to 140 feet high, ranging in all different shapes and sizes.
If you’re brave enough, you can even climb on some of the tufa spires. I did and had an even better view of the park.
What is the Searles Dry Lake basin?
The Searles Dry Lake basin is a dry lake in the Searles Valley of the Mojave Desert, in northwestern San Bernardino County, California. Borax, also known as sodium borate or sodium tetraborate, is a powdery white mineral that has been used as cleaning products. Borax actually gets rid of stains and molds, which was first discovered from the dry lake surface of the Searles Dry Lake!
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How to get to Trona Pinnacles?
Depending on which direction you’re driving from, the Trona Pinnacles are located about 20 miles east of the Ridgecrest. The site can be located from a BLM dirt road (RM143) departing from SR 178. This is about 7.7 miles east of the SR 178 intersection.
Trona Pinnacles Coordinates: 35.68143, -117.39033
Parking at The Trona Pinnacles
If you’re worried about parking on site, don’t worry at all because parking is absolutely free. Park wherever you can find space but just make sure that if you need to get something from your car at night, that it’s not while someone is taking photos of the milky way.
Are there bathrooms on site?
If you forgot to bring wet wipes, no worries because there are bathrooms on site. The bathrooms were also, rather clean, considering that the pinnacles is located in the middle of the desert. Initially, I would’ve assumed it wouldn’t have been as sanitary than it was due to the amount of sand flying around from the wind, but I was wrong!
Internet Connection + Cellular Data
By surprise, there was well connected data available on the camp grounds. Usually, I’ll lose total service when visiting national parks, but there was sufficient amount of connection at Trona Pinnacles. Verizon is my phone carrier, as I had no problems making phone calls and most importantly, having the ability to update highlights of the trip on my Instagram stories.
Trona Pinnacles Milky Way
Not only known as the camp grounds of filming Star Trek, but Trona Pinnacles is also known as one of the top places to catch the Milky Way. In August, the milky way lines up perfectly above the pinnacles, as you’ll have visibility of the full star alignment. Pinnacles at night is an amazing time to practice astro photography, as it was even the first place where I learned how to shoot astro.
As social media has influenced the demand for photography, there will be more foot traffic at Trona Pinnacles during milky way season. For this reason, make sure you plan ahead and arrive early enough to get a good spot to set up your tripod to capture the milky way.
During milky way season, you also can’t beat the weather at trona pinnacles. The weather is perfect and hot, as you won’t be freezing if you plan on car camping.
Climbing The Trona Pinnacles
Arriving at Trona Pinnacles during golden hour, there were already a handful of people camping out, catching sunset and waiting till capture the milky way. So as we waited, we explored and climbed around pinnacles to find the best compositions to shoot. Eventually we ended up splitting as we were all playing marco polo while climbing different tufas. With whatever your intentions may be when visiting Trona Pinnacles, don’t forget to simply enjoy the beautiful, scenic landscape.
As someone visiting from the East Coast, I don’t get the opportunity to go out to the desert everyday and shoot. So the moment we arrived at Trona, I was speechless. My jaws dropped every corner we drove and I could not believe how vast the sunset was. The skies were clear and it was beautifully quiet, as we had the opportunity to experience the outdoors from dawn to dusk.
When blue hour hit shortly after sunset, I was in such disbelief of the beautiful landscape. Everything from landscapes to the scenery, the moment was perfect. So perfect, I isolated myself from the group to take a music.
No phone, no music, no social media. Solely one with nature.
Simply gazing at the sky transitioning from sunset to blue hour, I was in awe. And seeing how naturally the atmosphere of the world was shifting, nature was appreciated on another level.
Blue Hour to Astro at Trona
Shortly after blue hour, the moon started arising and within a few hours, it was time for astro and to catch the milky way. If you don’t know to set your camera settings to shoot astro, remember to research before going out and shoot.
But here are a few quick tips to note if you plan on shooting the milky way at Trona:
- Shoot in manual
- Set your exposure between 15-30 seconds
- Set your aperture between F/2.8-F/4
- Try not to set your ISO higher than 1600
- Shoot in RAW image format
- Remember to set a self timer of at least 2 seconds before hitting the shutter
As my first time shooting astro, I shot with skilled photographers who knew what they were doing and guided me to capture this shot.
While you’re setting up your camera, the milky way is visible with the naked eye. There is almost no light pollution, allowing you to see all the stars at night.
Being super accustomed to city lights in NYC, witnessing nature in it’s finest was absolutely breathtaking. So if this is your first time shooting the milky way or camping at Trona Pinnacles, remember that you have to start somewhere. You learn as you go and will only get better if you’re intentional about learning.
Overall Experience
When researching which national parks to visit in California, it’s highly likely that you’ll consider visiting Joshua Tree or Death Valley at first. Although they’re extremely beautiful national parks as well, I highly recommend visiting the Trona Pinnacles. These unique rock formations will make you “wow” during every moment of your trip. It doesn’t take too much time exploring the park while you’ll have enough time getting the shots you need, as long as you don’t fall asleep camping out in your car!
If you’re considering a longer road trip, Trona Pinnacles is also on the way to Death Valley, which is also full of a plethora of natures wonders. Start with the pinnacles and make your way up north in California.
Visit Trona Pinnacles for sunset, shoot the milky way, capture sunrise and experience just a sliver of what California has to offer. Embrace the hot weather and camp out in the desert. And remember that if you want to be stress free, I recommend renting a Jeep or a 4×4 to get you to the pinnacles at ease.
And if I’ve convinced you enough to visit the The Trona Pinnacles, you might want to watch Star Trek V: The Final Frontier prior to going. It will solidify your experience as you’ll feel like Jean-Luc Picard leading the fleet to safety.
So don’t forget to bring your camera to shoot the milky way, snacks to munch on during your stay, an extra shirt in case you get dirty climbing the tufas, and an adventurous spirit to enjoy your time out in Trona Pinnacles.
You might also be interested in…
- The Ultimate Joshua Tree National Park Travel Guide
- The Ultimate Heart Lake Camping Travel Guide
- Bioluminescent Waves in Newport Beach
- Things To Do In Jejudo Island, South Korea
- Why You Should Travel More Often
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