04/19/2026
As Time Moves On
Stars trail behind the Desert View Tower in Jacumba San Diego.
The Desert View Tower was built in 1922 by Bert Vaughn, a San Diego real estate developer who owned Jacumba. Vaughn dedicated it to the pioneers, and highway and railroad builders who opened up the area.
Travel through the rugged In-Ko-Pah mountains had existed for centuries by existing Indian tibes. As settlers came into the area they began looking for ways to cut through the rugged mountains.
The first crossing in wheeled vehicles may have been the 1856 journey of Lt. E.B. Williston from San Diego, briefly through México, then up through Jacumba and on to Yuma
A historical plaque next to the Desert View Tower marks the site of the Mountain Springs Station, a stone house used in 1862-1870 as a store from which ox teams pulled wagons up a 30% grade. Beginning in 1915, the Old Plank Road connecting Yuma to southern California through the dunes provided additional assistance for making the crossing in motorcars. A new, 20-foot/6-meter-wide road with an asphaltic concrete surface constructed on top of a built-up sand embankment replaced the Old Plank Road upon its opening on August 12, 1926. The same roadway later became displaced by U.S. Route 80, itself since displaced by Interstate 8.
You can still see remnants of the old roads in the area. Reminders of the progress that led to the high speed Highway 8 that you are traveling on when you pass by the Desert View Tower.
I've had this image in mind for some time and decided to give it a try. Just like a month ago the only day that would work for me weather wise was a Friday evening where I had to go to work the next morning,...ugh! The next night clouds moved into the area.
I took blue hour photos of the foreground and then traveled up into the mountains to capture the star trails. The north star does line up behind the tower and I could have done star trails in the area but I wanted a much darker area to play with since this sits right next to a major highway, plus I wanted a better vantage point to possibly shoot the C/2025 R3 comet in the morning just before dawn. Even though the sky was darker in the Mt Laguna area, the amount of plane traffic coming overhead was a huge pain in the butt. I had to spend a long time getting ride of all the airplane and satellite trials in the sky image.
Stacked / Blended/ Composite
Sony A7R5 w/ Sony FE 12-24mm F/2.8 GM
Foreground shot at blue hour 15 shots focused stacked
ISO 100, 12mm, f/10, 5 seconds each.
Sky Star Trails 591 exposures almost 5 hours
ISO 800, 12mm, f/2.8, 30 seconds each.
