After must consternation about severe traffic potential, we drove down to Madras, OR for a chance to experience a total eclipse. A friend had rented the corner of a farmers field a few miles south of Madras, and 20 or so of us converged for the big event. We went Saturday (for the Monday eclipse) and had no significant delays with traffic. We did, however, top off the tank 3 times on the way down, to guard against gas stations running dry. People coming down on Sunday seemed to have similar experiences. With a day to kill, we hopped on our bikes for about 25 miles on the nearly empty back roads in the area. Some nice views of Lake Billy Chinook, created by a dam near the confluence of the Crooked, Deschutes, and Metolius rivers. Wildfires near Sisters gave us some haze, but also provided beautiful sunsets.
 |
| Mt Jefferson sunset |
 |
| More sunset colors |
 |
| Still more sunset colors |
 |
| Lake Billy Chinook |
The eclipse totality was amazing. Even at 90% or so, it seemed like early evening with softening light, and cooling temps. The only real oddity was the very sharp shadows, due to the reduced parallax from the narrower sun. As totality approached, Mt Jefferson disappeared into the shadow while we were still in light. Pretty cool. The brief (2.5 minutes) of totality were surreal. Off came the eclipse glasses. Light levels were similar to twilight ... not completely dark. I took a few quick pictures before soaking it all up. We also had a photographer in the group, who had a telescope. His pictures were way better!
 |
| Waiting for totality! |
 |
| Tom's image |
 |
| Chris Huss's image |
 |
| Chris Huss's collage |
Many of our campers headed home shortly afterwards ... to horrendous traffic. Reports of 8 hrs to Portland (instead of 2.5), and 12+ hrs to Seattle (instead of 6). We opted to head to Bend, nominally an hour away, to avoid the headaches and get in a mountain bike ride. Well, it took about 4 hours to get there, but part of that was lunch and a nap in a state park along the way. Lots of California license plates going south. We headed to Seattle on Tuesday after a nice bike ride. Traffic was much better, but certainly required some patience (only 8 hrs instead of the usual 6).
Activities
- Biking
- 25 miles: SW Mtn View Drive > Belmont
- Eclipse watching
- Wandering
- Deschutes River Trail south from Farewell Bend Park (loop trip)
- Mountain Biking
- Kent's > Phil's > Lower Whoops > Phil's > Kent's
5-Star Moments
Tom's Daily Stress Points
- Will traffic suck??? (stress level = medium-low)
Sleeps
- Eclipse: Camping
- Bend: Entrada Lodge (a bit tired, and beds a bit hard
Noteable Eats
- Bend: Immersion Brewing Co. (very good and interesting food).
Comments
Post a Comment