Watoga State Park

I recently purchased a new Benro Polaris star tracker. Armed with my gear, cold weather clothes, and a bunch of recently watched Capture the Atlas tutorial information, I set off to Watoga State Park. I’ve traveled to Cherry Springs State Park a few times in search of good Milky Way shots. Cherry Springs is a dark park in Pennsylvania. Its about 4.5 hours from my house. I decided to check out the light pollution map and find somewhere new to explore. My CTA community recommended Watoga in WV so I decided to book a cabin and check it out!

Here are some pictures from my trip there and the scenery in the park! But first – here is the sad light pollution map – with this spot being in the dark blue section!

Adorable cabin I slept in for about 4 hours 🙂

This ended up being my shooting location for the evening! It was the perfect angle with the milky way rising right over the lake! This is my first attempt at a stitched tracked panorama but see below! Probably the best milky way composition I’ve ever had! Only had to sit out in the 30 degree breezy night for about 6 hours to finally capture it! Only a few critters and scary noises – everything seems scarier in the dark woods when you are by yourself.