Eclipse 2017

"The Great American Eclipse" will occur on Aug 21 2017.

https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/eclipse-2017/

If you are planning your 2017 rides, you can expect rooms will be hard to obtain along the eclipse path around the eclipse date.

If you are looking for a reason to go somewhere, well here you go!

-Steve

I'm about 125 miles from the center of the path myself, planning have my pilots license by then, and reserved a plane for it. Hope to take Dad to watch it. Last saw a full eclipse in 1979.

Very cool idea.

Hope the clouds cooperate.

-Steve

I would think that's why you'd wanna take a plane up. Clouds are only a problem for us land-lubbers. Almost got to see one when I was in grade school. Dumb clouds. We prepared for it for weeks at school. Built these little paper box thingies that we were going to use as viewing scopes. But when the big moment came, there wasn't much to see but the dumb clouds.

Gary

darksider #44

I started looking into this today - probably 6+ months too late. All the campsites and hotels I tried (close to 100) are sold out in the "path of totality". So I dug a little deeper. It seems that the Boise National Forest in Idaho allows dispersed camping throughout the park and happens to lie in the path of the total eclipse. That's become my plan, Stan. Haulin' a$$ out of OC on the night of the 18th with light camping gear, riding through god-forsaken NV overnight when the temps are hopefully low enough to keep my tires from melting, and ending up somewhere near Stanley, ID on Sunday morning (20th). G-maps claims 900 miles in 14 hours. I may opt to leave a day earlier and go through UT to take advantage of the altitude difference. Likely a last minute call based on the weather forecast. As soon as the show's over, break camp and be back in the office on Wednesday the 23rd, probably a little bleary eyed and dehydrated.

I still have some details to work out, but doesn't that sound like fun? Really?

Stanley is a great town, there are lots of places to camp but you'll want to get off the paved road. Are you GSing or FJRing? If GSing I can suggest a fabulous camping place, near a fire lookout, in the middle of the River of No Return Wilderness at 9,000 feet.

I was thinking FJR due to the apparently endless slab 'tween here and there and the short timetable I have. But, if the destination is off-road and prime, I can swap in the GS. Just need to add a couple of hours to the journey.

Check your email

I am planning to see the eclipse but I'm not sure where! I'm sure the prime viewing areas within 150 miles of either coast will be horribly crowded in the ~70 mile wide corridor of totality.

My daughter lives in Winnipeg MB and is due to have a baby (our first grandkid) sometime in mid-August. I'm betting I can plan a visit there and take in the eclipse (either before or after visiting in Winnipeg). Total eclipse in a less populated area seems like a good idea - I'm thinking Nebraska (or Wyoming or Idaho). 850 to 1300 miles from Winnipeg; depending on where I end out - totally worth it for 2.5 minutes of totality! More likely to have clear skies in the west than near either coast as well.

Will do some research on camping areas in that part of the country keeping in mind that reservations are going to be needed. They are expecting this to be popular. Although the eclipse passes right through Grand Teton NP and the southern part of Yellowstone, I'm expecting wall-to-wall tourists with no available motels or campsites.

This is a good map for eclipse details - zoomable Google Map...

https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/interactive_map/index.html

I live along the Southern boundary of totality. Yep, all hotels are booked. there are 30,000 extra people expected here in Crook County, 70,000 in Madras. All told something like 1 million extra folks along the path in Oregon alone. All the A/C parking spaces are spoken for. There are a number of multi-day festivals queued up for that weekend.

You can expect to have problems even getting any kind of meals be it groceries or restaurants, and access to rest rooms around here will be dicey. And expect lots of extra temporary LEO's deputized and imported.

Idaho is probably a better bet, would be my guess, as it's more remote from major population centers. Probably mostly folks along I15 in Utah. Maybe Arizona.

The "Zone of Totality" is about two hours South of me. I'm sure Lusk Wyoming will be having some kind of event in town.

Have ended up in Baker City OR for the event.

Any suggestions for a good viewing spot in the area would be appreciated.

Many thx

-Steve

@RossKean --> forget about hotels and campgrounds anywhere near the path of totality. Everything is sold out, even in remote areas.

Reasons I chose ID:

1. Generally clear skies in August - I can make East/West adjustments if necessary

2. It's less than 1k miles from home - I can stretch this into a long weekend without draining the vacation bank

3. Free and (relatively) unrestricted dispersed camping in the National Forests

BigJohnSD has me thinking of taking the lil' GS instead of the FJR to give me better off-road access in the ID forests...... still noodling on that aspect.

Camping in any of the "favorite" areas will be impossible, of course. I was figuring something could be available in Nebraska but I haven't even started to look into it. Pretty sure I could find something 10 hours away from the center of the total eclipse corridor. With an early start, it shouldn't be any problem getting there by 4:00 PM or so. Hit the road once past total (6:00 PM or so) and could probably be to a place with accommodations by nightfall.

Edit: I was just looking at the Eclipse Map and realized that the times are give in UT (or UTC). This means, of course, that my 6:00 PM is actually around noon. UT (or UTC) minus 6 hr = MDT

That changes things a bit. I would have to find a place within 4 or 5 hours travel time.

RossKean said:

Camping in any of the "favorite" areas will be impossible, of course. I was figuring something could be available in Nebraska but I haven't even started to look into it. Pretty sure I could find something 10 hours away from the center of the total eclipse corridor. With an early start, it shouldn't be any problem getting there by 4:00 PM or so. Hit the road once past total (6:00 PM or so) and could probably be to a place with accommodations by nightfall.

Click to expand...

Plausable option. I've opted to get to a site 24 hours before I need to, leaving some room for the unexpected.

FrankD posted: Plausible option. I've opted to get to a site 24 hours before I need to, leaving some room for the unexpected.

Click to expand...

You'll need a good view of the sky. Lots of Idaho and Wyoming NF is under a thick evergreen canopy -- at least it was when I lived in Idaho Falls in 1977-1978.

Ignacio said:

I'm about 125 miles from the center of the path myself, planning have my pilots license by then, and reserved a plane for it. Hope to take Dad to watch it. Last saw a full eclipse in 1979.

Click to expand...

Cross your fingers no one else in the area is making the same plan. Last place I'd want to be during an eclipse is VFR in uncontrolled airspace in a high-wing aircraft.

I read all this with interest and my conclusion is I do not want to be anywhere near the event gathering locations for many many reasons.

Some good info: