Our Great American Solar Eclipse trip!

I heard about the 2017 solar eclipse early in the year.  I have always loved astronomy type things.  I decided we were going to travel to the path of totality to view it, and as luck would have it, the path lined up with a location Carson had been wanting to backpack to!  So we started making plans.  We researched the backpacking route we wanted to take.  I ordered solar viewing glasses.  We made a trip to Cabela's for some gear we needed, and we were set!

Here is some fun information about the eclipse: 
It is the first TOTAL solar eclipse that can be seen from the United States since 1979, and then, only a small part of the country could see it.  This one will enter the US in Oregon and move across the entire united states.  That hasn't happened since 1918.  There will be another pretty good one in 2024 that will go from Texas to Maine, but the next one coming on the path across the entire US will not be until 2045.


Carson had a cross country meet on Thursday, so we couldn't head out until Friday morning.  The eclipse would be on Monday (also Carson's birthday) and we planned to travel home on Tuesday, hoping to avoid any bad traffic, just in time for the kids to go back to school on Wednesday.

Friday morning we hit the road headed north to the White Cloud Mountains near Stanley, Idaho.  Our plan was to hike in and camp near the base of Castle Peak and then fulfill Carson's dream by hiking up Castle Peak one of the days.  Well, we got part way up the dirt road to the trail head and couldn't go any further.  There was water over the road that made it impassable.  It doesn't look bad in the picture, but we watch a couple of trucks go through it and it was deep.  We were in the mini van.  If we had brought the truck, we probably would have made it through just fine.

We got out and debated for a while about hiking the remaining 5 miles of road to the trail head and just camping in a different spot the first night.  We tentatively started heading up the road, but quickly discovered that Griffin's pack was far to heavy for him (and the rest of ours weren't very light either).  We definitely needed to fine tune our backpack packing skills.  Maybe the water across the road was a blessing in disguise.  Despite the HUGE disappointment, we managed to have some laughs when Katelyn fell backwards off a rock and couldn't get back up because of her backpack.  Of course, in stead of helping her, we all took pictures. haha

Well, now to plan B.  Problem was, we were in an area we were not familiar with and had only researched the backpacking trip we had planned to go on.  We drove to the ranger station, checked out some maps, asked some questions, then headed out to find a camping spot.

The camping spot we found was less than idea, but we were just happy to have something.

 It was kind of a dirt hole, but Katelyn beautified it with some flowers. :)

chillin in the tent

We were settled in basically in enough time to make us some dinner and call it a night.  Carson was on dinner duty for the night.

Saturday we decided to find a hike to go on.  We consulted the maps and picked out one that looked good.  When we got there, they had closed the road to the trail head because all the parking areas were already full!  I don't know if that is typical for this area in the summer or if it was extra busy because of the eclipse.  Another Plan B (more like D or E at this point).  We were camped fairly close to Stanley Lake and there was a trail head at the lake that we decided to explore. 

A view of McGown peak through the trees

Waiting for everyone (Clint) to be ready to go

A view of McGown peak at the start of our hike

Signing in at the trail head.

 We hiked about 2.5/3 miles and came to a creek crossing.  It had a cute beachy area and we stayed there for a bit cooling our feet, skipping rocks, taking pictures, and enjoying nature.

 

We decided to turn around at the creek crossing and head back.

 

On our way back we found a spur trail to Lady Face Falls.  It was a short jaunt off the main trail to a gorgeous waterfall!  We viewed it from above.

Then everyone but me headed down a sketchy canyon wall for a closer look.  Griffin and Clint came back up shortly, but Katelyn and Carson explored the creek and the pool at the bottom of the fall.

It was a fun little afternoon adventure!  We went into Stanley for a bit and got some ice cream.  Then back out to our camp site for dinner.  Griffin had dinner duty Saturday night and even though we weren't backpacking, everything was still done backpacking style since that is all we came prepared for.

Sunday morning selfies!

We found an LDS ward in Stanley and headed in for church Sunday morning.  I'm disappointed we didn't get a picture of the little chapel it was held in.  It was pretty neat.  There were obviously a lot of campers like ourselves there for church, plus a few locals.  The chapel had a huge windows at the front with views of the Sawtooths while we had our service.  It was amazing.

For the rest of the day we relaxed, fished, and walked around the lake for a ways.

That evening the kids attempted to take some pictures of the stars.  They really were amazing!!

Finally!!!  The big day had arrived!  Monday was eclipse day!  We headed out early to get a good spot at the lake.  We would be able to see the eclipse right over the lake!

Chilly mountain morning waiting for the eclipse.

Almost time!

It is really so difficult to describe what it was like, but it was amazing....the slow decrease in light as the eclipse neared totality, the drop in temperature, the way the sun looked!  Wow!  We got to see the total eclipse for about two minutes.  Here's a little clip of our reaction as the total eclipse occurred and a couple of pictures that feebly attempt to capture the beauty of what we saw.

 Clint trying to get a good picture.

Carson was able to get the best picture that our group took.  This is the best idea of what the sun looked like, but the sky around it was not pure black.  It was deep blue and you could see the stars.

Here are a couple of pictures from the internet.  Very true picture of what the sun looked like, but again, the sky was not black.

This one is the closest to what the sky looked like during the total eclipse, but the ring of light around the sun was not this big and bright, it was more like the picture above.

 If you ever get the chance again to see a total solar eclipse, do it!  Simply amazing.

The eclipse was over before noon so we decided to go ahead and hit the road.  We planned to make a few stops on our way so we figured we'd be a little behind most of the traffic.

We stopped in Stanley and picked up a couple of souvenirs.  Then we hit up the Gold Mine in Ketchum.  Griffin and I entertained ourselves with some selfies while the others went thrift shopping!

Last stop before the rest of the trip home . . . birthday dinner for Carson at Lefty's in Ketchum.  Delicious!  This guy is now 16!!  So cool to have the solar eclipse on your birthday!

Since we weren't home to have birthday cake, we had birthday cupcakes in the car!

On the entire trip we never hit any unusually heavy traffic.  It was smooth sailing!  Most of our trip took us on I-84 while the rest of the state of Utah was traveling I-15, so it was perfect!  When we were traveling I-15 it was north bound and we took video of the heavy south-bound traffic but I can't find it.  It was super backed up even at about 10 pm!  We sure lucked out with the route we took!  A friend send us a photo of this traffic mess earlier in the day.

Even with the backpacking fail, it turned out to be a great trip that we will remember for a long time!