The long desert hike I took to get to Factory Butte in Utah was worth the effort for the view I hoped to capture. As I noticed fossilized shells on the desert floor along the way, it was hard to comprehend this entire area was once an ocean millions and millions of years ago. Although many use drones to sail over the mounds of shale, I set out to hike over and beside the mounds setting up my digital camera and tripod once I reached this viewpoint. The clear spring starry night blended in perfectly with the cracked and textured muted tones of the desert shale.