The 2017 eclipse path of totality was expected to pass only a few hundred miles from our home. With about a 90% partial eclipse expected at home, we decided to make the trip into Wyoming to see the total eclipse.
There were predictions about traffic snarls and fuel shortages cautioning people to carry extra fuel, food & water and prepare for the worst. We took these warnings into consideration and then ignored all of them except for selecting a route that stayed away from Interstate 25.
We left home Sunday morning for Lander, Wyoming which seems to be a traveller friendly town and is also on the southern edge of the path of totality. This would be our first stop and a fallback if we really had difficulty traveling further toward the center of the path of totality.
Lander has a city park that offers 3 days of free camping with bathroom facilities and is walking distance to the downtown area with plenty of restaurants and shops.
As an added bonus there is a nice mountain biking trail system within riding distance from town called the Bus Loop. We rode on the road from the City Park to get to this trail system.
There is another trail system a little further away from town that looked interesting but we did not make the time to check it out. Johnny Behind the Rocks Trails
After a quiet night at the City Park, we headed to Boysen State Park early in the morning which is right about dead center of the path of totality which would give us the longest length of time in the total eclipse.
When we arrived at the park, there were quite a few rangers on hand to greet us, all in good spirits, handing out eclipse stickers & maps of the park. They seemed ready for big crowds. We drove the east side of the park, giving us nice views of the reservoir and small, intricate rock formations. We settled in on a rise overlooking the reservoir and with a nice view of the distant mountain ranges.
While waiting for the big show, we met a gentleman named Richard that happened to be from the next town over from where we lived in New Jersey. Richard made the trek all he way from New Jersey for the eclipse, selecting this location for the best viewing and weather conditions for the event. He was very prepared for viewing and recording the event and was also very knowledgable about the astronomical and scientific aspects of the eclipse.
Since this was the first total eclipse we have witnessed, it was great to have insight from Richard on what to expect and what to look for during the event. Best of all, Richard had an extra solar filter that fit my lens so I could photograph the partial phases of the eclipse, not just the totality phase that I had been planning to photograph.
The time just before and during totality was unlike anything else we had experienced. The lighting was so unusual, the temperature dropped 15 degrees F. We could see planets and stars in the sky.
For all the crowds we did not experience on the way up and during the eclipse, we sure found them on the way home. Six hours of driving to Boysen turned into over ten hours on the return trip.
No question, over 16 hours of driving was well worth 2 minutes of total eclipse.