A Field of Stars over the Valley of the Moon

            The Milky Way rises in an arch over the "Valley of the Moon" in Jucumba California. 

The Vally of the Moon is an area that accessible by hiking in or driving in with a very capable OHV in the Jucumba area of San Diego County. 

I had been interested in shooting the stars in this area so I did a initial hike to see what the feasibility of it was, other then the initial hill you need to climb the rest of the hike is not to bad. Its a 3-4 mile hike each way into the Valley of the Moon. You can drive into the area as well but you better have a kick as vehicle. I was only comfortable taking my vehicle up the 1st mile of the road.

This area has a few mountains with really interesting rock formations that are reminiscent of the area around Jousha Tree, except you will not see any Joshua Trees, plenty of cholla cactus though, so be careful where you walk. 

This image is a composite. I planned on shooting the Milky Way at this location. I hiked in without a cloud in the sky until I got ready to shoot the Milky Way 4 hours after arriving only to have clouds start coming in and bunching up over the area I wanted to shoot the Milky Way arch and no where else. So I  combined my Blue Hour Pano of the landscape here with a tracked Milky Way image I took in the same longitude but slightly north in the Borrego Springs area. 

Blue Hour Landscape Pano
Sony A7iii astro modified w Sony FE 24mm f/1.4 GM
ISO 800, 24mm, f/1.4, .05 sec x 8 shots. 

Tracked Milky Way Pano
Sony A7iii astro modified w/ Sony FE 14mm f/1.8 
ISO 800, 14mm, f/1.8, 1 min x 7 shots. 
   

Taken on: May 24, 2025

Tags:

Composite

Milky

Panorama

Jucumba

San

Diego

County

Valley

Moon

Tracked « less

Sets appears in: • Milky Way • Memorable San Diego Hiking Photos more » • Desert « less

Groups appears in: • Hiking • San Diego more » • Long Exposures • Picturing California • California Landscape and Seascape • *amazing nature* • α - Sony Alpha Cameras • SoCal Hiking and Backpacking • The Milky Way • Beautiful California • San Diego Super Shooters • san diego photo group • TMI: your ART & NATURE **NO PEOPLE OR MAN-MADE OBJECTS** P1♥C1 • San Diego Hiking/Backpacking • hiking climbing backpacking • Hiking California • San Diego Night Shots • California Photographer • San Diego Photography • Sony Alpha World • Landscape Astrophotography • California Landscape Photographer • Lonely Speck • Milky-Way • it happened one night ~ by Admin approval (p1 - c2) • Sony FE-Mount (Full Frame E-mount) • Astroscape • The Alpha: Sony & Minolta Photography • Explore Flickr (unofficial) • PlanIt! for Photographers • Team Sony • SONY A7M3 / ILCE-7M3 / A7III • SONY A7III (ILCE-7M3) • Milky Way Bows • Sony FE 24mm F1.4 GM • /r/LandscapeAstro • Sony FE 14mm F1.8 GM • Very Arty « less

Camera: Sony ILCE-7M3, f/1.4, 0.5 sec, 24mm, ISO 800 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Sony ILCE-7M3
Lens:	FE 24mm F1.4 GM
Aperture:	f/1.4
Exposure Time:	0.5
Focal Length:	24mm
ISO:	800
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Manual
Light Source:	Other
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 14.3.1 (Windows)
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