One of the best places left in the country to see the Milky Way and the sky filled with stars is Great Basin National Park. It is in the middle of nowhere and takes 5 hours from anywhere to get there, so it is a little out of the way, but … With the pics of the night sky I took, it was well worth the trip. I spent 2 days and 2 nights there to catch the peak of the shower, and it worked out great!
Not only was there plenty of shooting stars to see, but there were plenty of deer in the park. Which you never see bucks running around in Nevada because most of the land is BLM/public and they are pushed around. As well as the fact it is high desert, so their refuge is in the wilderness in the mountains among the trees and along impassible terrain. I got a few shots of meteors blazing through the dark skies and some great pics of the Milky Way. I used the 50mm 1.2 lens for the first time and the large aperture came up huge – prints will be super clean. Look for more night shots to be taken with this lens!
I should be back up there soon to get some pics of the only herd of Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep in the state. More on that when I have the pics.