Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Full Totality Solar Eclipse Destinations

Is anyone travelling to view the upcoming full totality eclipse? If everything works out, we may do a loop and end up down near Mena, AR. Hoping for clear skies to get some nice pics!!

Take a canoe down the current river, Eminence, MO, and kill two birds with one stone.

I'm living in the path, I'm already there.

We have a spot lined up at some winery in Texas to park the camper.

The middle boy has not seen a total eclipse. Neither has the baby but it isn’t like he is going to remember this one.

Everyone is making a big deal about it here. I hope it rains that day.

Me too!!! We are in the middle of it and we REALLY need the rain bad.

Went through it out west a few years ago and was on the Columbia river fishing. We were just north of totality and will say as one of the biggest detractors of all the hype it was pretty cool to see. The birds were so screwed up that they thought it was roosting time and flocked to the river by the tens of thousands and fell out of the sky like they were struck by lightning. When it went dark the temperature dropped a bunch and you needed a jacket until the sun came back out.

We are getting plenty of rain here so hoping for a clear sky in northern Maine. We watched the last eclipse seven years ago from a mountain top in Wyoming. It was definitely worth the hike!

I have been told we are in a pretty good spot for it but that stuff is of zero interest here.

It's a omen

Bad JuJu gonna happen.

Haints an all come out the woods an such.

Mena?
Couldn’t find a more redneck place to go? I try not to slow down when going through Mena. There’s a couple of red lights. Best to run them. Especially at night.

I wouldn’t drive 2 miles to see it. Things like this don’t do anything for me!

It's on a Monday

Some of us will be working

I'll be outside if it's not raining. Gonna be right on top of me.
Would prefer a July or August time frame, but I wasn't consulted beforehand.

I'll be outside if it's not raining. Gonna be right on top of me.
Would prefer a July or August time frame, but I wasn't consulted beforehand.

Coming from the north side of Cincinnati, we're nearly at the edge of totality. If we drive 20 miles to the west, we'll be there. From there, it's just a matter of how much totality we want to see. At the minimum, you get maybe a minute or so. If we drive so we're dead under the center, it's more like 4:00.

Our plan is to leave at 0600 the day of the event and travel roughly NNE through Oxford, Ohio and keep on the back roads. Somewhere, the traffic will start to pile up, and we'll stop and get out the lawn furniture.

We had a total eclipse here in the southeast several years ago. Things get crazy. People come from hundreds of miles away to see the eclipse. A strip mall that was in the path of totality was charging $50 PER PERSON to park there for an hour or two. For mom, dad, and the two kids, $200.
Plus there were terrible traffic jams in the areas of total eclipse.

We got 99.2 percent at my house so we just stayed here and enjoyed the show. We had a big eclipse party at my big log cabin, with relatives driving up from Atlanta etc. We all loved it. We watched the moon slowly cover the sun.

I didn't think it would be a big deal but my wife really wanted to see the one a few years ago. I'd seen a couple where I was in 90-95% and didn't think 100% would be that much different. I was wrong, 100% coverage only lasts 2-3 minutes but it was far different than the 95% coverage I'd seen in the past. We had to drive about 2 hours from home and made a day trip of it. We got into Sparta TN about 2 hours early and went to a Walmart to pick up some stuff we needed.

The parking lot was full of people from hundreds of miles away, so we just decided to stay there. I don't think the locals knew what was going on, but it turned into a big party much like tailgating for a big SEC college football game. The folks at Walmart loved it because they were selling out of drinks, ice, food and folding chairs. The manager came around and greeted everyone personally.

I have grandkids who want to see this one. We have rooms reserved in Owensboro KY for Sunday and Monday nights. We will have to drive about an hour north into Indiana to get in the area of totality on Monday.

Haha, someone wants to rent our duckclub house, I guess it's ground zero.

Someone will get bad weather

We're way out in the mere 50% path. We saw the last one so we won't travel for this one. Last time, we were a bit out of the total path but we drove about 130 miles to visit some friends who were in line with it. It was well worth that short trip.

A lot of small Texas towns are losing their minds over the expected crowds. I'm going turkey hunting.

It is only about 100 miles away. I have been giving thoughts to it.

If you're that close, it's well worth the trip. You likely won't ever get another chance.

With the last one, it was about 90F when it started. 45 min later you needed a jacket. Then it got hot again quickly.

When the sun is partially covered and it starts to cool down, keep in mind that the Dems have floated plans to put some kind of sun shield in orbit between the earth and sun to block sunlight. What a disaster it would be if they tried and it actually worked.

We had a partial eclipse the day I got married. I'm still wondering if it was a bad omen 42 years later.

kwg

Ground zero here in Rochester NY hoping to be on Lake Ontario fishing weather permitting

I plan on fishing the White River that morning !

My back yard.

The astronomers put this event kinda close to the Tulsa Gun Show.

Shouldn’t have timed it to interfere with this other major “can’t miss” phenomenon...

I live in the main viewing path. Gonna sit in the backyard in a lawn chair, grill, and drink a beer.

That's my favorite part of Current River because of the lack of canoe floaters

I don't know why you wouldn't want to go to Cleveland for that!

The news is saying that our town (Boerne TX) of 20k will see 20K visitors for the eclipse.

It will be a madhouse. It will be like the circus came to town.

If you could only get half that number out to vote Red in November. People are such f'king idiots.

The red vote will be at work during the eclipse

Fortunately we are rural 15 miles from town.

They are expecting an additional 500,000-1 million people in and around Erie County/Buffalo NY to view. Already talking about shutting things down via a state of emergency.

Only issue (a big one at that) is there is a 60-70% chance of overcast skies. That’d be disappointing for many.

We had an annular in October about 200 miles from here. We'd planned to go and camp with some friends but it ended up as a no go with the weather. We had to cancel. The path crossed western Oregon and I heard that many people went to see it but it got clouded out, too. The OR coast would be a high risk trip.

ci.boerne.tx.com

Total Eclipse in the Hill Country
Boerne will soon be the setting of a natural phenomena unlike any other when a total solar eclipse passes overhead on Monday, April 8, 2024. The City of Boerne and Kendall County are preparing for upwards of 50,000 visitors coming to town to witness the spectacle.

Planning between the City of Boerne, Kendall County, other agencies, and community partners has been underway for nearly two years to ensure residents and visitors alike can safely enjoy the eclipse.

Partial Eclipse Begins: 12:14 p.m.
Totality Begins: 1:32 - 1:36 p.m.
Partial Eclipse Ends: 2:55 p.m.

I am lucky to have been in the direct path 3 times in the past 14 years now, this one included. We have the eclipse safety glasses hanging off the fridge on the ready.

We had a partial last fall sometime? It was definitely a college football Saturday. We were in a stadium, mid afternoon. Maybe at ole miss? Had four pairs of glasses and it was like a 50% or so. I swear the 50 people around us all used those 4 pair of glasses to look at it.

Bingo.

Won't be doing a trip here. For those that do head for the centerline, be ready for traffic and crowds like you've rarely seen before. Still worth the trip though.

Most all the counties here in Central Texas as declaring disaster proclamations for that weekend/week.
https://www.kwtx.com/2024/03/08/tra...eclaration-ahead-great-american-eclipse/


I know Bell county has done same. Others will follow

I have a deer lease in Mason TX. Supposed to be an ideal location to see the eclipse.

I am on board with this and agree 100%

Gonna drive to Illinois, get some really good pot, sleep in the car, watch it from some church parking lot

Get some more really good weed and head on back to the house. Likely a couple taco bell stops in-between

Four+ minutes of totality is about as good as it gets.

I saw one such in Oaxaca summer of ‘91, quite by chance when visiting a friend.

A ring of fire around a black sun, bright stars in a black sky around the sun, surrounded by a 360 degree dawn around the horizon. I suspect the black sky/stars effect might be less dramatic closer to the edge of the shadow/shorter full totality.

I’ve already seen one, so won’t be braving the crowds for this one. Well worth a trip for someone who hasn’t.

I don't like eclipses, they are weird.

They shun that which they do not understand.

Wabi durin eclipses 🤣

If you haven’t seen one in full totality, it’s worth going to see at least once in your lifetime. We went to the August 2017 at the Family lodge in Driggs, ID. Totality lasted 3-4 minutes. As someone else mentioned, the bees went back to their hives, the birds roosted, the crickets started chirping. It got cold enough for jackets in the twilight and some of the brighter stars were visible. I can see why the natives would think the world was ending. The wife got some great photos with her DSLR, a telephoto lens and a dark lens filter.



Go check it out if you can.

we had it here last fall

Peeps went crazy to get to view points

Great pic by your wife.

What do you mean you'll sit this one out? It is coming to your town.

******************
Start of the partial eclipse for downtown San Antonio will begin at 12:14 PM CDT and end at 2:55 PM CDT. Maximum eclipse will take place at 1:34 PM CDT. Spectators in the San Antonio area will observe 99.9% obscuration of the Sun during this time.

Our neighbors out at the Leakey Tx place has a bunch
of rental cabins etc. A bunch from Germany rented everything they have.

Thank God we got the county road fence all finished. That may help a little.

Last partial we had here got me thinking I was having a stroke.

Everything just kept getting darker for some reason...

I was surprised at the temperature change, wasn't expecting that much difference.

No kidding. my first one was in Colombia in 1995 or so. It was in their hot season and I was at 10 deg latitude. HOT and very strong sun rays. Went from this to cool in a matter of a second when the last bit of sun finally got occluded. And then 4 minutes of dark glorious cool and then as soon as the first diamond like light beam blasted out of the side of moon, the temp just skyrocketed.

A partial eclipse is a world away from a full eclipse, not even close, all the way until the moment the sun is completely blocked.

School is in session where I’m at that day. Absentee rates, among both staff and students will be astronomical (and should be). I’ve been encouraging everyone who can get to an area of totality to go but for many kids it ain’t that easy.

IIRC Lackland AFB on the West Side will get nine seconds of totality. A ten minute drive away and you’re at a full minute, a bit past that 90 seconds. That’s how local the edge of that round shadow of full totality is.

The only partial eclipse I’m sorry I missed IIRC was around May of maybe 2013. Partial eclipse, I didn’t even bother to step outside. I should have done, I didn’t realize the sun was gonna set in partial eclipse, that was spectacular, like a multi-planet system from science fiction.

All I had to do was step outside.

Be working 23 floors up right in the path. Should be pretty neat

We had 99.1 on the eclipse several years ago and it was fantastic. I surely wouldn't complain about 99.9

Backyard should be 99.8.

I'm dead center in the path. It is supposed to last 4 minutes or so. I'm betting it will be cloudy but the family will come over for a cookout and party.

Yes! Do get to the centerline if possible. A 90% view is nothing like a 100% scene. Damned near a religious experience and something one's kids and you will never forget. For sure though, do run down some glasses or filters that allow for safe direct viewing.

The image below is a composite (beginning to end going left to right) Cookie assembled from our Aug 2017 event here in Oregon. She used a homemade mylar filter I put together for the earliest and later stages, as there is enough light intensity then to fry one's camera sensors. The mylar blocks about 99.9% of the incoming light, so one gets a color shift. When one reaches the diamond ring - totality - diamond ring phases, it's safe to remove the filter and acquire the white light images. Then one has to go back to the filter.



For posting purposes and image assembly, these snapshots are heavily downsized. At full resolution, one can see small black sunspots on the original shots. It's interesting to observe those spots over time, as they move across the sun's surface and out of sight at different speeds. She did these shots with a Canon EOS 70D wearing a Canon 500mm prime lens. I can't recall the settings but do remember she simply went with what the camera's metering system suggested.

I made some attempts with another camera (EOS 50 D) and 100-400mm Canon zoom, but they came out poorly and were round filed.