Great American Eclipse - Wyoming 2017

We spent the last few days preparing for the Great American Eclipse. Being camped in Dubois, Wyoming put us in a great location to access the line of totality. We met up with our friends, Jane Porter and Kim Chaney, who flew over from the UK to photograph the eclipse. After driving up and down a number of forest roads, we finally agreed that the Whiskey Basin Wildlife Habitat Management Area would give us the best vantage point. We were not disappointed.

Here is a photo of the "diamond ring" that Jane took during the eclipse.  The diamond ring appears just before and just after complete totality, and is a fascinating effect which can be seen by the naked eye:

On Monday, August 21, 2017, we started our day with homemade breakfast burritos. After donning our matching eclipse t-shirts, we posed for the obligatory eclipse selfie! From left to right - Kathy, Kim, Dave and Jane.

We hit the road at 8:00 a.m. to give us enough time to hike in and get set up. After parking our cars, we began our trek up to the top of highest lumpy hump. After reaching the summit, we planted our beer mug flag and claimed the summit. Others soon followed, but there were enough lumpy humps to go around, and we were alone in our lofty camp.  We quickly unpacked our gear:

Kathy was the official timekeeper and disc jockey, while Dave was in charge of video clips. Here, Dave is styling and profiling in his new Eclipser HD eclipse glasses, while Jane is making the final adjustments to her camera and tripod setup.

Jane is ready!

Kim is focused.

Our encampment is ready. Let the countdown begin!

Click the following link for a 360 video of Camp Frosty Mug!

At 11:36 a.m., the moon made first contact. Jane watched as the moon began to nibble away at the sun.

We took a minute from looking up to look down at a small pin-hole image of the eclipse reflected on a soft white surface.  This only works when you use a soft paper surface of the proper texture.  This is the only way to "enjoy the moment":

The anticipation was palpable. As more and more of the sun disappeared, the temperature began to drop. The sky darkened and we were soon surrounded by a 360 degree sunset.

Watch this video and you can see just how quickly day turned to night.

We had a total of two minutes and twenty seconds to look directly at the eclipse.  Dave's photograph, in high magnification, reveals some intriguing texture on the moon and makes the surrounding sky appear almost as if it were a cave in which the event occurred:

It's hard to describe all that we saw and felt.  Kim summed it up best:

"It was like bright moonlight. The sky was dark navy, and the center of the sun was black, as if someone had cut the center out with a cookie cutter. The corona was really detailed and the rays appeared to move around. A mesmerising spectacle. It was the strangest object to see hanging there in the sky. Then as soon as it came, the diamond ring appeared, and the light rapidly returned to normal."

To see how quickly the light returned, watch this video.

After totality, we continued to monitor the progress of the moon until the eclipse ended at 1:02 p.m. We retired to our RV for lunch and coffee. After shopping for souveneirs in Dubois, we drove to Jane and Kim's cabin to upload the videos and re-live the experience.

It only took one celebratory drink in the bar before we began planning to watch the Second Great American Eclipse in 2024. 

So...who wants to join us?