Gear for Spring Eastern Sierra Travel

Having just spent a week in the Lone Pine in the Owens Valley area of the Eastern Sierra does not make me a travel gear expert, but there are some definite things that I did learn that perhaps may be useful for your traveling plans to area during the spring.

Most of the time you will be walking close to your subjects, we visited Death Valley, Laws Museum, Alabama Hills, Town of Keeler, BristleCone @ INYO National Forest during the morning 3;30 am thru sunrise/sunset.

Ninety percent of what I shot was between 14 to 85 mm. I brought a 200mm V2 but it had very limited use..my favorite three lens were the 16mm (fish), 45mm pce and the 85mm.

For clothing you could go all morning and day with the clothing tips below, really hugh for me , was bringing the fingerless Black Diamond gloves and Outer Shell jacket and PANTS for (sand,cold,wind).

Do not leave behind your GPS, Iphone do not work for tracking , no or little service throughout the entire range of trip, (ATT has the worst coverage in CA). Let people know in advance that you will not be avoiding them because you can’t text 90% of the time.

You’ll need your GPS in Alabama hills because it is a maze of dirt roads and turnoffs. Keep track of your headings for setting up for startrails and the Big Dipper, Milky way.

If you have any questions or need any advise on some of the particulars of my stay, I would love to share or clarify, so feel free to leave a comment…..

Gear

1. Body – Nikon D3_
2. Lens
   1. Top Six Lens
      1. 14-24mm f/2,8g (ulta wide angle & startrails)
      2. 16mm (fish)-Alabama Hills oh my !
      3. 16-35mm f/4 V2 (walkabout Alabama hills)
      4. 45mm f/2.8 PCE (pano, startrails, sunrise, Whitney)
      5. 24-70mm (walkabout wide angle thru low telephoto)
      6. 85mm f/1/4 – cream machine – people & Whitney
   2. Wish I had
      1. 105mm f/2.8G – when you may need just a bit of extra length or 1:1 plants
      2. 70-200mm f/2.8 VR2 – you don’t really get to use anything above 100mm, but this can be used for 70-100 range
3. Accessories
   1. Tripod
   2. lens and sensor cleaning kit (mandatory)  ref: Sensor Cleaning
   3. MC-36 for startrails – learn how to use it.
   4. .6 & .9 ND soft grad
   5. C-POL
   6. Hoodman V3
   7. headlight/mag lite (startrails)
   8. GPS
4. Clothing
   1. low hiking boots
   2. smart wool sock & inner socks
   3. long sleeve first layer
   4. ExOfficio long sleeve shirt
   5. Mountain hardware convertible short/pants
   6. Head Hat, neck gator (OR)
   7. Gloves, mountain climber fingerless (Black diamond) and buy a light finger liner
   8. Outer Jacket shell -
   9. Outer Pants shell – dark gray – The best thing I brought – keeps sand, wind, cold out !
5. Back at the Hotel
   1. Laptop
   2. External Hard Drive
   3. Card Reader
   4. Mouse
   5. Chargers for NIKON batteries, laptop, iphone
   6. Ablution-teeth,hair,shave, ect