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Sam | National Parks + drone & travel

@samanthaabusch

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🏔️ Dark skies + hidden trails in the West
🚙 Exploring the West by Toyota · 📍 Utah
✨ Half of @dustandstarlightco
🗺️Every spot we’ve shot, on one map

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7K of you are here and I’m screaming 😭 Thank you. Truly.
If you’re new, hi, I’m Sam. I live in Salt Lake City with my husband Brian, and most weekends you’ll find us in the 4Runner heading somewhere with dark skies and not much cell service. He’s usually behind the camera or flying the drone, and I’m the one planning the route and finding the spots. Together we run @dustandstarlightco, where his landscape and night sky photos are available as prints.
Here’s what you can expect if you stick around:
• National park spots and places across the West, with the real details (when to go, where to park, what’s worth it)
• Cozy stays and cabins we find along the way
• Night skies, drone views, and a lot of road trip moments
• Honest takes on what’s crowded, what’s overrated, and what’s worth the drive
• Why protecting our public lands matters to us, and how you can help
I started this to share places I love, and you all showing up for it means more than I can say. Tell me where you’re following from, and what spot you’d want me to cover next 👇
#utah #nationalparks #4runner #roadtrip #publiclands by @samanthaabusch

We spent last weekend in Bluff, Utah as guests of @desertrose.resort , and before bed we left a camera pointed at the sky. This is what the night looked like while we slept. ✨

Desert Rose was the perfect base camp. We spent the days exploring, then came back to soak in the hot tub under the stars. On-site dining kept things easy, and Canyon Smokehouse in town was our go-to for dinner and late-night bites. 🍖

If Bluff isn’t on your list yet, it should be. Within a short drive you’ve got:
🏜 Valley of the Gods
🌀 Goosenecks State Park
🪨 The Sand Island petroglyphs
🛶 Floating the San Juan River
⛰ Bears Ears and Cedar Mesa

Thank you, Desert Rose, for having us. We’ll be back. 🌌

#bluffutah #desertrose #startrails #utahskies #darkskies by @samanthaabusch

Hi, I’m Sam 👋 If you’re new here, welcome. I’m glad you found us.

I’m based in Salt Lake City and spend most weekends chasing national parks, dark skies, and backroads in our 4Runner with my husband Brian (the tall one next to me at Grand Prismatic). He takes the photos📸, I plan the trips,🚙 and we both hunt for the spots worth the drive.

I work a full-time job like a lot of you, so our adventures happen on weekends, PTO, and the occasional “let’s just go” Friday night. I share it all because I want you to see how doable this is. You don’t need months off or a perfect plan. You just need to get out the door.

Getting outside has changed how I see everything, and it’s made me care a lot about protecting these places. Public lands belong to all of us, and I want them to stay wild for whoever comes next.

Here you’ll find trip ideas, honest tips (including what didn’t go to plan), drone shots, and a whole lot of fun travel. Thanks for being here. Tell me where you’re from and what’s on your bucket list 👇#weekendwarrior #9to5traveler #photography #getoutside #keepitpublic by @samanthaabusch

Long drives, fun hikes, one blanket. Warm, soft, and still my favorite gear✨. @gorumpl #gorumpl #madeforwhateverunfolds #ad by @samanthaabusch

Our first book is out, and we’re so excited!🌺
Garden Color Studies is nine botanical studies, each built from a flower photo we took. Each one pairs the original photo with a paper-style rendering and a line drawing for you to color.✨
It’s on Amazon now. Link in bio.
Thank you all so much for the support while we worked on this. Seeing the printed copy had us screaming.
If you order one, tag us when it arrives so we can share your copy.
#coloringbook #adultcoloring #botanicalart #flowerphotography #macrophotography by @samanthaabusch

Nature can’t vote, but you can. 🌎

Zion’s Narrows, where the river is the trail. Places like this belong to all of us, and how well they’re protected and cared for is decided by the people who show up to vote, from local ballots to federal races.

Tomorrow is Election Day. Make a plan, and vote with public lands in mind.

Find your polling place: vote.gov

#PublicLands #VoteForPublicLands #NatureCantVote #ElectionDay #Vote2026 by @samanthaabusch

Day 1: Points. Monthly reservoir storage and daily mountain precipitation, replayed over the Western Water Dashboard's ArcGIS basemap.

1. Reservoir storage at 405 reservoirs, November 2025 to September 2026. Across 388 complete records, combined storage peaked at 60.1% in May and fell to 48.4% in September. Rings show capacity; the fill shows the share stored.

2. October precipitation at 111 NRCS mountain stations in the Four Corners. The median across 58 stations reached 6.9 inches, against a 1991–2020 normal of about 2.2. Rain and snow are counted as water.

Scripted in Python. Data from nine public reservoir providers and USDA NRCS.

#30DayMapChallenge #Points #GIS #Water #DataViz by @samanthaabusch

One night on the White Rim 🌌

Last light on Candlestick Tower from camp. A couple of hours later, the Milky Way standing straight up over the rim, with one of us at the edge and a headlamp on the pale sandstone. Then about three minutes of color behind the tower at sunrise before the clouds closed in.

Sunset, stars or sunrise? 👇 Link in bio for prints.

#whiterimroad #canyonlands #milkyway #astrophotography #moab by @samanthaabusch

Two Octobers ago ☄️

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS between the clouds after sunset on October 12, 2024, over the valley towns from Skyline Drive in central Utah, with Mount Nebo on the right.

Did you see it? Tell us where you were 👇 It's now on the site, link in bio.

#comet #tsuchinshanatlas #astrophotography #utah #nightsky by @samanthaabusch

Capitol Reef's quiet side 🏜️

Cathedral Valley sits in the far north of the park, down dirt roads, and it's pretty empty out here except on some weekends.

1. The Temple of the Sun, a lone tower of red Entrada sandstone
2. The view from the Upper Cathedral Valley overlook
3. Two pale-capped monoliths, a year later

We've gone back two Aprils in a row. Have you been? 👇 Prints in the shop, link in bio.

#capitolreef #cathedralvalley #utah #desertsouthwest #landscapephotography by @samanthaabusch

Spring and fall, same park 🦬

Lamar Valley in May: the herd spread across the green flats by the oxbows of the Lamar River. Mallard Creek in September: one bison standing mid-channel, then crossing with a geyser plume rising behind it.

Spring or fall? 👇 Prints are on the site, link in bio.

#yellowstone #bison #lamarvalley #wildlifephotography #publiclands by @samanthaabusch

Fall came early up high this year 🍂

Late September in the Wasatch and the Uintas: gold aspens under the granite at Guardsman Pass, and a dirt road curving into Soapstone Basin off the Mirror Lake Highway.

The highway usually closes for winter in November, so these will have to hold us until next fall.

Which one would you hang? 1, 2, 3 or 4 👇 Prints of all four are on the site, link in bio.

#utahfall #fallcolors #aspens #mirrorlakehighway #wasatchmountains by @samanthaabusch