Saturday, September 2, 2017

Total Solar Eclipse of 2017 - Part I

Part Ia - The History

Total Lunar Eclipse of 2014

Back in early 2014 I was browsing the NASA Eclipse web site in preparation for the coming Total Lunar eclipse of 15 Apr 2014.  Seems so long ago.  That was a fun event for me and I was able to take my astrophotography to a new level that year using my Celestron C8 telescope and my Canon 50D crop camera.

After staying up until the wee hours of the morning at a friend's property in eastern Colorado, and spending many, many hours on GIMP, I ended up with my piece de resistance: an 18" x 48" metal print of a Lunar eclipse panorama.


Total Solar Eclipse of 2017

from NASA's site
Back to the reason for this blog... what I tripped across earlier that year was information about the up-coming total Solar eclipse of 2017--eventually to be known as the Eclipse Across America or the Great American Eclipse.  Unless you live in a cave and have NO access to modern media (radio, TV, cable, or the internet) or possibly are reading this from a different continent, you already knew about this event.  Hopefully you participated in a trip to the totality zone yourself, or if not, you at least walked outside on the 21st of August to witness the partial obscuring of the sun.
This is the story of my first encounter with totality. Any eclipse is a wonderful act of celestial mechanics and I cannot do it justice in explaining the details--most of which I am familiar but do not have the fortitude to document here.  In case you wish to know more, there are a few sites which I recommend:

Back to the story: after gathering a little information in 2014, by April of 2015 I had finally committed to the idea of seeing this total eclipse.  At that point I started investigating locations, travel times, equipment--very rudimentary plans.  

Another year passed and around February of 2016 my planning started in earnest.  First-things-first, I needed to upgrade my equipment.  To start with I needed get my hands on a solar filter which I could use with my 8" Celestron telescope.  That was easy enough; I had already purchased a smaller filter for my Celeastron 500mm catadioptric lens (that is a fancy word for "mirrored"), so I went back to the supplier of these filters--Thousand Oaks Optical.  
What prompted earlier purchase of the smaller filter?  That one I picked up for witnessing the 2012 Transit of Venus (Transit of Venus, 2012). In that event I attempted to make an aperture filter for my large C8 telescope using foam board and a piece of welding glass as a filter.  Unfortunately the welding glass was not optical quality and the reduced objective aperture enhanced that deficiency.  I was still able to get some good shots with the 500mm lens and my 50D despite the frequent cloud cover.

Scouting trips

August 21st 2016

My initial plan was to drive up to Wyoming and pick out a nice location within the zone of totality--at the same time of year as the actual event.  Thus 21 Aug... 2016.  

My first targeted location was Glendo Reservoir.  Half-way between Douglas and Guernsey, right off of I-25, there lays a relatively large reservoir surrounded by a state park--perfect for camping and recreation.  I figured that would make a great location: setup a camp early eclipse-weekend, assemble all my equipment, and hang out until the shadow swept by.  Turns out it was a good idea which a lot of other folks had too.  About that later.


Camping has always been a hobby for mine, my family, and my friends, so invitations went out to drum-up interest for a scouting trip.  There was a good bit of back-and-forth discussing the location, camping, and even canoeing / kayaking at the scouting site.  

Unfortunately work got in the way of plans as it often does, and nothing materialized in Aug 2016.  

Early 2017

Fast forward to February 2017--now into the year of the event.  I was randomly digging through solar eclipse information on the web, occasionally checking out weather maps, alternate locations, etc.  It turns out that Wyoming was not only the closest location for us folks in Colorado Springs but it also tends to have some of the best viewing weather for that time of year.  February turned into early April and I started making plans to actually go on that scouting trip.  April was important because it would provide a good reference to where the Sun would be in the sky during the eclipse.  Just like scouting a site on the same day the year prior, referencing an analemma, I found that the perfect "Spring" match to the 21 Aug eclipse date would be 19 Apr.   


Next step was to look into a camp site and possible reservations for the scouting trip.  That was when I learned... 
WyoParks had put weekend passes up for early reservation.  "Great!"--I though, I am ahead of the game.  We should be able to get a site at Glendo...  Nope!  It turns out that rather than opening up reservations 90-days in advance, WyoParks had already offered camping reservations much earlier and all the passes for Glendo State Park had sold out in October!  That put a bit of a damper on my plans.  At the same time I also learned that they were selling one-day car passes for any WY state park, so I purchased two.  

OK, so now I needed to find an alternative--primary site.

Late-April 2017

Additional research showed some interesting prospects: Ayres Natural Bridge Park, Medicine Bow National Forest and Campbell Creek Campground, etc.  The only way to tell which locations would be good and which would be mediocre would be to get 'boots on the ground'.

So, for the weekend of 22-23 April I brought along my youngest son (he needed driving hours, and Wyoming is good for that), and a collection of folks from work.  We piled into a couple of vehicles and drove up to Wyoming to scout for the 'perfect' total eclipse viewing site.  I wanted to check out Glendo, even though it was not available for camping--it would still be a great spot for the viewing.  My father was even considering bringing along his 5th wheel camper and parking it at the General Store lot for a nominal fee.

My buddy Steve is much more experienced, and frankly better at this blogging thing.  He made an entry about our scouting trip in April:

As Steve mentions, we had lunch in Douglas on Sunday--the Village Inn is where our luck turned.  I started chatting-up some local residents as we were checking out.  One gentleman and his wife had been living in the area for quite a while and was curious about the "eclipse traffic" but had very little interest in the event himself.  Very friendly folks.  I always like an impromptu conversation and that one happened to pay off for us.  He had mentioned that they lived south of Douglas, in the small town of Esterbrook.  He did note that private property was interspersed with National Forest land--which raised my interest.  
After consulting the shadow map and seeing that Esterbrook was well within the area, we decided to drive down there and check out the location.  What we found eventually became the location for our eclipse viewing adventure: Esterbrook Hill.


Laramie Peak from Esterbrook Hill

Part Ib - Preparing for The Event

The Nerding-Out and the Trip to the Viewing

Throughout the Summer, I would set up my astrophotography equipment to test it out, in preparation for the coming eclipse.  A few test shots here-and-there.  Eventually I caught this video by Destin Sandlin at SmarterEveryDay. This is where I first found out about the "shadow snakes" and quickly decided to download the Solar Eclipse Timer app.


This video pushed me to be even more aware of other phenomenon.  The animal reactions, the diamond ring, and Baily's beads were all phenomenon I was familiar with--shadow bands was new.


Drumming-up a Crowd

I chatted up many folks about the solar eclipse and I was starting to gather a crowd of interested viewers.  My plan was to take Friday off of work and head up to Esterbrook.  Hoping the camp ground would have an open site was 'Plan A' but the expectation was 'Plan B': to setup a dispersed camp on NF land.
A buddy from work, Troy, was planning to convoy up with me.  My father was planning to head up to Glendo with his 5th wheel camper.  Steve, the guy with the blog, would come up with his wife on Saturday--possibly bringing Jeff (another buddy from work) as well.  My wife would come up on Sunday and bring both boys--she would stay at the trailer and the boys would camp out with me.  Another two buddies from work: Jon, was planning to bringing his wife; the other: Paul, intended to bring two of his three kids.  Another good-old friend, John, his wife and one or two of their boys.  That made a grand total of 17-18 people.

Unfortunately, not everything worked out as planned.  A number of folks had come down with a pretty bad cold including my family.  Eventually we had a grand total of 12 in our group: myself and Troy arrived on Friday; Steve, Lisa, and Jeff arrived on Saturday; Jon came by himself, Sherrie (John's wife) showed up with one kid and my youngest boy, and Paul arrived with his daughter and son.

Early Preparation at the Site

Getting there on Friday

Troy and I planned to check out a few 'escape routes' on our way in to Esterbook.  We planned to drive up I-25 and get of at Exit 94, Fish Creek Rd, rather than Exit 111 at Glendo.  Having stopped in Cheyenne to fill-up the trucks and ourselves we made good time to Chugwater, then Wheatland, where we stopped to top-off the vehicles again. We were carrying extra fuel, not knowing how stretched the local infrastructure would be for the return journey, but planned to fill-up often.  It was a good thing that we did not need much gas at Wheatland since they were charging over $3.30/gal whereas earlier in Cheyenne it was a more reasonable price at ~$2.40/gal.

After finally reaching the exit, we headed out west from the highway.  At the Harris Park Rd (Co 71) turn-off, there happened to be a temporary Forest Service - Ranger Information stop.  We pulled over to chat with the two guys manning the station and heard confirmation that 'Plan A' was no more--the Esterbrook Campground had filled-up on Thursday.  They politely suggested that the Esterbrook Hill area was "nearly full".  We explained that it was the rendezvous point for our group, so we needed to check out the area before deciding to camp elsewhere.  

Driving up Harris Park we eventually intersected FS 633 which would take us to our final turn--FS 633A.  Once we arrived in the area, it was apparent that we were not the only ones to think this would be a good viewing location.  We pushed on through and eventually drove to the top of Esterbrook Hill, where the footings were all that remained of an old fire watchtower.  There was already a trailer setup on the switch-back just below the peak and a tent up at the top.  Moments before we arrived at the Hill, another vehicle had parked there as well.  Deeming Esterbrook Hill to be too crowded for the existing folks let alone Troy and I, and the others of our group--we decided to drive back and explore the small loop of FS 633AA.  Nice thing too.  The second piece of luck came as we drove around looking for a good camping / viewing location.  After chatting up Tim, the work center head ranger, we eventually ended up sighting a smaller hill just North of Esterbrook Hill.  

That was the spot!

Setting Up

Troy and I could not decide if we should camp by the vehicles or ~100m up the hill.  The small peak was a bit rocky, so we set up a 'base camp' by the road and placed the easy-up canopy at the top of the hill.  Later-on Friday, we walked around scoping out the area.

Setting up an older telescope can be tedious if you are impatient, or it can be fun if your a little bit of a nerd.  I am the latter.  So after staking out a decent location with the canopy, opening up the folding table, and finding a good spot for the telescope, I went about doing some initial alignment.

These telescopes, and all others for that matter, need three basic components to make the "star tracking" work properly: the tripod base needs to be level, the "wedge" needs to be set to the same angle as your latitude, and the base needs to be pointed directly North.  Making the tripod level is a pretty easy endeavor given the built-in bubble level on the wedge.  Determining our latitude has become very easy given that not only my hand-held GPS but even my phone can provide a location down to the fraction of a 'second'.  Setting the angle on the wedge is not very complicated, though it tends to be a course setting.  The final step: pointing North, can sometimes be a challenge.


When setting up a telescope, just locating the "North Star", Polaris, is the easiest way to get started.  However, setting up during the day can pose a bit of a complication--there are no stars visible.  Enter the Astro Compass. This neat little anachronism is still used today for airborne navigation when you happen to be flying very far north or south, near the poles.  Using it, along with a good time piece, and the annual Air Almanac, can yield very accurate bearings (ie which way is north).


Being a little bit of a nerd, I set up my astro compass, shot a north bearing, confirmed that bearing with some notable topography and my mapping GPS, then went about aligning the telescope tripod.  This all worked out remarkably well and was fun to boot.

Meeting New People

Needless to say, with such a nice location for the viewing, it did not take long for people to wonder up the hill and take in the view.  Since everyone was there for the same event, finding a subject to talk about was pretty easy.

I met folks from Texas, many from Colorado, a few locals from Wyoming, a couple of people from Wisconsin, and even a few from outside the US.  Backgrounds were just as diverse: optometrist, lawyer/engineer, retired oil industry/naturalist, student, eclipse chaser, ...

After the event had concluded on Monday, I had a list of over 20 people interested in my photos and video.  Hopefully this blog will be the landing point for everyone at Esterbrook for the Total Solar Eclipse to meet again.


Thank you for visiting my blog!


As with the original Star Wars trilogy, the best part of the story starts with a later episode.  I have captured this total eclipse adventure in a number of postings for my own recollection--and you are more than welcome to visit the other pages...
Part I - The History





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