Solar Eclipse 2017 Discussion Thread

[crgildart]

I wouldn't recommend freestyle camping in that type of back country. Need to be either in a very well populated and noisy campground or in a hard sided camper.. Also need to keep your food suspended in bear bags.

@TonyC has traveled to every major eclipse in recent history. Surprised he's not chimed in here yet. If you can get there, it is certainly going to be a seriously heavy emotional event, bonding with everyone who you experience it with.. like the first time at the Rocky Horror Picture Show only you can't go back and see it again for 30 years..

 

[TonyC]

92% is still pretty damned cool.

No it's not.

I'd compare it to being at Yellowstone and seeing 92% of the park but not seeing Old Faithful blow.

No it's like going up there and staying in West Yellowstone and never entering the park itself.

FWIW we'll get 94% here. Last one I saw was 85% and that was like about a half hour before full sunset.. about as dark as it gets when mom calls the kids inside for the night.

During totality it's about as dark as 45 minutes after sunset (varies by latitude of where you live). But that's not the main point. It's what you see of the sun itself only then: corona, red chromosphere, solar flares, diamond ring, shadow bands running across the ground if you're lucky.

Just gonna go up 395 to get a bit closer...No need to camp.

A bit closer is not good enough.

Ugh my husband wants us to drive 4 hours to camp in some field in Nebraska with a bunch of rednecks with RVs and I'm being cranky and just not feeling it.

Your loss if you don't go. You're a lousy, selfish spouse if you try to stop your husband from going.

The full scientific explanation from astrophysics professor Jay Pasachoff:
Since the sun is about 400,000 times brighter than the full moon (about 14 magnitudes), a 99% eclipse (so termed) is about 4,000 times too bright compared with totality, which is about the brightness of the full moon. So a "99% eclipse" is really only 100/400,000 = 1/4,000 = 1/40% of totality = 0.025%.

So if someone claims 99% coverage, we can translate to less then a tenth of a percent of the way to totality. 99.9% coverage is two tenths of a percent of the way to totality.

Have in invite to go to Idaho Falls and stay the night for free, but I have zero desire to battle the traffic that will accompany. 92% totality here in the Ogden area-I'm going to hop the gondola at Snowbasin with my daughter, take a hike, grab some lunch, and enjoy from up there.

So that's 1/32,000 of totality (YAWN). It's colossal stupidity to turn down free lodging in Idaho Falls. You can watch from your friend's yard and hang out for traffic to clear before heading home!

NASA eclipse expert Fred Espenak puts it in simpler terms:
Almost seeing a total eclipse is like almost winning the lottery.

"But those close to the path of totality have won the celestial equivalent of Super Bowl tickets. So why are they planning to stand outside the stadium? If you’re among them, you should ignore the warnings and go see the total solar eclipse anyway. This event is rare, and so special—and there’s no excuse to miss it if you make peace with one simple concept: camping."

Camping is a good idea but not the only reasonable option. Hotel price gouging is related to:'
1) Being IN the path as opposed to an hour or two drive outside the path, AND.
2) Being in a resort area that's already in high demand in August (Jackson) OR
3) Being a medium sized town with the only lodging base within the path for some distance (Casper).

The best hotel options should be in a larger city that's an easy 1-2 hour drive into the path. The best of these is Boise, Idaho, population 600K and an easy Interstate 84 drive into eastern Oregon, statistically the best weather odds on the entire path. Joe Cali, the Australian eclipse chaser who hosted 100 of us in November 2012, is one of the 57 people in our group in Jackson. Before he joined us, he had a Boise hotel room for less than $100/night which he has not given up because it has a normal 48 hour cancellation policy. This tells me that the hotel supply in Boise is too big for price gouging for the eclipse. If you're in a place like Boise, get on the road before dawn to beat the traffic.

Tony has a reasonable hotel room in Bend, though he reserved it a year ago. My guess is that Bend is now tight and/or expensive for lodging. Another First Tracks poster lives in Boulder and has reserved a room in Cheyenne. Idaho Falls is in the path and will probably be expensive but Pocatello is a similar sized city (50K) an hour south and may be more reasonable.

Areas outside the path in the more populated Williamette Valley (Portland north, Eugene, etc. south) should be more like Boise. The eclipse is total there in Salem and Corvallis. The only catch with the Williamette Valley is lesser weather odds, though summers are not chronic overcast like winters there. If the weather forecast there is dicey, you may need to get on the road by 3AM or so to drive over the Cascades to the desert side.

Now is also the time to invite yourself to spend a night or two with any friend or acquaintance who lives in/close to the path. (See AmyPJ above)

Would suck to book a room and invest a thousand dollars in travel and work vacation to have it rain or just be mostly cloudy at the time of the event.

YOU live in the Raleigh/Durham area so no hotel is necessary for you. You have a 3-4 hours drive from your house to the path in South Carolina. Get on the road before dawn to beat the traffic. South Carolina does have dicey weather odds, but you are buying that lottery ticket dirt cheap (gas + one day off work) with a 50+% chance of winning if you're mobile and following the weather forecasts closely.

More eclipse resources:
https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/
https://www.eclipse-chasers.com/Map.html
http://eclipsewise.com/intro.html
http://nicmosis.as.arizona.edu:8000/UMBRAPHILLIA.html

Some of you know that Liz and I met online on the Solar Eclipse Mailing List when she lived in NYC. In 2010 she asked online if anyone wanted to go skiing after the July 10 eclipse. I was the only respondent except that she saw the eclipse on Easter Island (her 4th) and then skied in Chile while I saw the eclipse (my 6th) on the Paul Gauguin cruise ship off Tahiti and then skied in New Zealand. Online correspondence ensued, and we finally met in person when her NYC ski club came to Mammoth in March 2011. We met again for Alta's closing powder weekend, then she signed on with me for the November 2011 Ice Axe Antarctic ski cruise and the rest is history.

We have been to the last 4 eclipses together, Australia 2012, charter flights from Bermuda and Iceland in 2013 and 2015, and from a liveaboard scuba dive boat in Indonesia in 2016, the latter being only time I have missed my Snowbird timeshare week.

During that 2010 correspondence period, we both expressed interest in seeing the 2017 eclipse from Rendezvous Peak in Jackson Hole. We began pestering JHMR in September 2014, and they finally developed a plan a year ago. We then organized a group and bought 57 tram tickets when they went on sale last September 15. We reserved 3 large condos in Teton Village and have 20+ people in them to keep the lodging cost under $100pp per night. The rest of the people had planned to be in the Jackson area anyway for the eclipse and just signed on with us for the tram tickets.

 

[Philpug]

Just gonna go up 395 to get a bit closer...No need to camp.

A bit closer is not good enough.

For @Tricia It will be as much about the topless ride! M.I.A.T.A.: Make It A Topless Adventure. Plus we get a pretting good (I know, not perfect) view of the eclipse.

 

[Lizardqueen]

FYI there are some nice landmarks in Nebraska - the Sandhills are scenic and Carhenge is fantastic. The rednecks won't be the ones in RVs inside the eclipse path, they'll be the people watching it on TV because it's a longer drive than going to Walmart.

 

[TonyC]

pretty good (I know, not perfect)

I don't see how anyone can describe .025% or less as "pretty good." Somewhere in far northern California or southern Oregon is essentially the same as staying home in Reno. Reno to Boise on I-80 and US95 should be a fun and mostly deserted Miata road trip.

I will continue to be strident on this point, because every time someone posts that they are just fine with 90% or whatever, it's misleading to readers/lurkers who are still on the fence about going.

If you're like Debbie in Accounting and just don't give a @#%$, that's a different story. I'm not trying to change those minds. We do have a few friends like that, notably the administrator of another ski forum.

 

[Tricia]

Once again, we fail if we don't take Tony C's advice on how we enjoy something.

Maybe we'll enjoy a nice drive in our Miata.
Maybe we'll get ice cream or stop for a cocktail with friends.
Maybe.....we'll just have fun.

 

[Philpug]

I don't see how anyone can describe .025% or less as "pretty good." Somewhere in far northern California or southern Oregon is essentially the same as staying home in Reno.
View attachment 27774
I will continue to be strident on this point, because every time someone posts that they are just fine with 90% or whatever, it's misleading to readers/lurkers who are still on the fence about going.

If you're like Debbie in Accounting and just don't give a @#%$, that's a different story. I'm not trying to change those minds.

.025 or less, to you have the stats to back that up? You figured out our demonic plan...we were actually going to scout out our spot for 2045. Foiled again.

 

[coskigirl]

Your loss if you don't go. You're a lousy, selfish spouse if you try to stop your husband from going.

That was uncalled for.

 

[crgildart]

"Like almost winning the lottery"??? Humm, I believe you get like a hundred thousand dollars for matching all but one number or something like that. I'd call that still pretty good.

Spent all my vacation days and then some on the Yellowstone trip. I don't regret it..

edit, decided to not get personal even though I see others have decided to go there.

 

[Tricia]

Your loss if you don't go. You're a lousy, selfish spouse if you try to stop your husband from going.

That was uncalled for.

X2 on this.

@TonyC I'm not sure you realize that your lifestyle is much different than many others here. Kimmy and her husband have small children, which adds a different dynamic to any kind of travel.

Quite frankly, your narrow minded, judgmental way of thinking about things such as this can be cruel.

 

[DanoT]

For @Tricia It will be as much about the topless ride! M.I.A.T.A.: Make It A Topless Adventure. Plus we get a pretting good (I know, not perfect) view of the eclipse.

After reading the first sentence above, I had a totally different image in my mind than riding in a convertible.

 

[TonyC]

.025 or less, to you have the stats to back that up?

You didn't read this in my first post?
The full scientific explanation from astrophysics professor Jay Pasachoff:
Since the sun is about 400,000 times brighter than the full moon (about 14 magnitudes), a 99% eclipse (so termed) is about 4,000 times too bright compared with totality, which is about the brightness of the full moon. So a "99% eclipse" is really only 100/400,000 = 1/4,000 = 1/40% of totality = 0.025%.
To connect the dots here, the solar corona during totality is about as bright as a full moon.

crgildart falls more in the "Debbie in Accounting" category as he chose to use all his vacation time for something else. I did not know this when I commented on his distance and logistics and again have no criticism for people making an informed decision. Deciding that 90% is most of the experience is an uninformed decision.

Finally, spousal advice from someone who isn't still happily married after 17 years isn't of any use to me..

This is a different topic and I stand by my comment. If you're on such a short leash that you can't take ONE DAY OFF AT TRIVIAL EXPENSE for a once-in-a lifetime event that interests you but not your spouse, yes the spouse is being extremely self-centered. I would think people on this forum who have significant others who are less enthusiastic about skiing would understand this point all too well. Or to bring back Tony's analogy, if someone offered you free Super Bowl tickets at a venue within a day's drive, wouldn't you resent being told you couldn't go?

@TonyC I'm not sure you realize that your lifestyle is much different than many others here.

I understand that very well. I fully realize that our other eclipse trips are wildly impractical for most people. That is exactly the point about this one. The cost and time commitment is trivial and once in a lifetime from many locations. Somebody "on the fence" in Reno or Ogden this month isn't going to Texas in 2024, much less to some other continent. Liz and I expect to be around in 2045, but my actuarial training tells me that I should not assume that.

 

[Philpug]

This is a different topic and I stand by my comment. If you're on such a short leash that you can't take ONE DAY OFF AT TRIVIAL EXPENSE for a once-in-a lifetime event that interests you but not your spouse, yes the spouse is being extremely self-centered. I would think people on this forum who have significant others who are less enthusiastic about skiing would understand this point all too well.

Everything that happens techincally is a once-in-a-lifetime moment. It is not a matter of being on a sort leash or being a selfish spouse, it is that not everything that is a priority to you is the same priority to others, please respect that. It is obvious that this is important to you, it just might not as important to everyone at the same level.

 

[crgildart]

This is a different topic and I stand by my comment. If you're on such a short leash that you can't take ONE DAY OFF AT TRIVIAL EXPENSE for a once-in-a lifetime event that interests you but not your spouse, yes the spouse is being extremely self-centered. I would think people on this forum who have significant others who are less enthusiastic about skiing would understand this point all too well. Or to bring back Tony's analogy, if someone offered you free Super Bowl tickets at a venue within a day's drive, wouldn't you resent being told you couldn't go?
.

No, I wouldn't risk losing my job to go... or risk house payments to go, or risk kids college savings to go.. And I LOVE Football. had a chance to see my college team play in the NCAA Championship more than once and did not go. Don't regret it..

 

[crgildart]

So, out of everyone who will be in the totality zone, what percentage will be buck nekkid doin' it??

 

[fatbob]

Aside from the MIATA club?

 

[Philpug]

Aside from the MIATA club?

You don't want this...if you look at the average demographics of a Miata club? Put it this way, we are the youngest in the group.

 

[Guy in Shorts]

MRG or Sugarbush appear to be prime viewing spots for April 8, 2024. It would be cool to be riding the single chair and have the lights go out.

 

[Tony]

It gets pitch dark every single night unless you are close to the poles. Seeing the iris is pretty cool all by itself.

Are you trolling or are you really trying to compare every night's darkness (after the sun sets in the West) to a total eclipse where you get a 360 degree sunset quickly followed by planets appearing during the day, moving at about 1500 mph to the East with light that needs to be experienced in person? And what or where is the iris you say is pretty cool?

I wouldn't recommend freestyle camping in that type of back country. Need to be either in a very well populated and noisy campground or in a hard sided camper.. Also need to keep your food suspended in bear bags.

Have you been to Eastern OR or Southwestern ID? I realize there are bear problems in Yellowstone and Yosemite (and grizzlies in MT), but bears are a problem at our two busiest National Parks because they have learned that campers and cars may have food. According to maps I found, bears are found most often in Western Oregon and NE Oregon and much less common in SE Oregon.

 

[Chris Walker]

Jeez I'm like the entire state of Wyoming away from the black line and according to that simulation it will just be a thin sliver of sun showing at the bottom here in Denver. I see no need to go anywhere to see it.