49.0

I love the desert. I loved the dry air and cool nights full of stars. And I love what it taught me. I also don't know how to put to words what it taught me. It is so wild and vast out there.... Enjoying the stars with ZERO light pollution was a real treat. I got to see scenes like this almost every night. The night I took this one, me and a friend of mine were having some radical conversation about beliefs and the world, and all that is in it....And outside of it. The presence of stars does that to people. When you really realize what else is out there and what we as humans don't know, it is humbling. No matter if you are an avid astronomer or a city guy, seeing the stars like this is equally inspiring. Then when you come to your senses again, and you soak in the sounds that inhabit the night, you hear something special, the sound of desolate, incredible emptiness. All I can say is that I just love it.
After a brief pause in the conversation, my friend stated the sentence at the top of the post. It stuck with me the rest of the trip, and I still think about it.
How foolish are we to try to say that we know anything beyond this world?

Taken near the Alvord desert on a crystal clear night in June.