The Great American Eclipse

We had booked a campsite at Gurnsey State Park in early January.  Thursday evening, Sandi returned from a business trip.   Richard had been packing, getting ready for the eclipse.

On Friday morning, we drove north, across the Wyoming border.  Traffic was heavy through Fort Collins; clearly other people had the same plan.  We stopped in Chugwater Wyoming, population 200, at at the oldest soda shop in the state.  We spent quite a bit of time in town, including getting a boating license, and meeting two ladies who ran the small library.  We also walked through their open air museum, full of old farm implements.

We checked into Gurnsey State park.  Neither of us had ever been there.   Our campsite was in a quiet corner of a large campground, and just a few steps from the water.  We settled in for the evening.

On Saturday morning, we got up early and headed for Glendo State Park, right below the Glendo Dam.   There we met our companions for the day, Bob and Catherine.   After dropping off boats, Catherine and Richard started the two hour shuttle, to a railroad junction called Wendover, which is the take out.  We had not met Bob or Catherine before, but they were delightful.  After taking a few wrong turns in Wendover, we found the correct parking lot, and dropped off the truck.  Then we headed back to Glendo, where Sandi had been knitting.

Our trip started with a riffle, in which we took on some water but no harm done.  We had lunch on an island that Richard recalled, which had been visited by cows.

The only named rapid of the day is called the Haystacks, a series of large standing waves below a narrow point in the stream.   We all made it through OK.

One theme of the entire trip was trains.  The tracks follow the river in places, and we saw a number of trains during our trip, generally coal trains.   One engineer honked his horn in greeting.  At one point, we were floating at the same speed as a train.  Our campsite was not far from a busy track.  We got stopped by trains several  times, and the town of Gurnsey has a large railroad yard.
When we got to the takeout, we waited for a train to pass before Richard could go get the truck.  Before Richard could return, another train came through!

We packed up our boats and headed for Glendo, where we dropped off Bob and Catherine.   In the town of Glendo we saw temporary businesses catering to visitors, and the fire department was open, posting a first aid sign.  Clearly the 200 residents were prepared for crowds.  

Dinner was at Twisters in Gurnsey, a place with a "True West" decor.  The menu was hand written, copied on 8 by 10 paper, and limited to about 12 items.  We requested grilled cheese sandwiches, which were not on the menu.

On Sunday we drove to the town of Gurnsey for mass.  The church was full.  Father welcomed the out of town visitors, and acknowledged the attendance of the former Wyoming secretary of state. After mass, we met a visiting French priest and a seminarian.  They were interested in a working retreat for French and American young people, and had been trying to reach our pastor in Boulder to discuss a joint program.   Richard sent an email to our pastor to introduce them.

The town was busy, with several temporary businesses, and many signs offering camping in various parking lots or yards.  We were told that they had been planning for the eclipse for two years.  There was evidence of good organization, in both the town and the state park.   From Richard's experience with disaster work, it was clear that they had planned well.

We headed for Fort Laramie, which was a major fort on the North Platte river.  The fort had responsibility for protecting pioneers on the Oregon Trail, and repairing the transcontinental telegraph cable.  It is perhaps most famous for treaties negotiated with the Indians.   We spoke to some reenactors in period garb, and participated in traditional Indian games, coordinated by someone who was originally from Denmark.

Richard and some children playing an Indian game.

Sandi standing in wagon ruts

We then went on to see wagon ruts from the Oregon Trail days, where the wheels cut into the stone.   The Pony Express, the Oregon Trail, the California Trail, and the Mormon trail all run through this area.  We continued to Register Cliff, where we found signatures from the 1850s.   All in all, a day focused on history.  Sandi was impressed to think about the vast openness that the pioneers went through.

Monday was the day of the Great American Eclipse.  We got up early to drive to the designated viewing area, where we could see all the way to Laramie Peak.   The area was full of people, with more cars than we could count.  Many people had driven up for the day from Boulder and other parts of Colorado.   Most of the license plates were from Colorado.    We set up our chairs and our blanket, and sat down to await the eclipse, which would reach totality about 11:45 AM.   We joked that we were in a Wyoming Woodstock.  The crowds were very respectful, and there were many children.  We saw crystals lying on a blanket, and Sandi saw one man playing a flute.  We saw various homemade devices for viewing the eclipse, and one of our neighbors had several cameras set up to capture the event.

Using our special eclipse glasses, we could see the moon obscuring the sun, starting about 11 AM.  Some people had brought telescopes, with the lens covered with very dark solar film.  We could gradually see the sun getting less bright, until it looked like twilight.  It became cooler.  Finally, with a yell from the crowd, totality started.   The world around us became dark, and everyone looked at the sun with telescopes, binoculars, cameras, or just with the naked eye.   We could see a red spot on one side of the sun; we saw three streamers going way out from the corona.  We noticed that a planet had come into view.   Laramie Peak, which had been largely obscured by the haze from distant forest fires, suddenly became very visible, perhaps because it was in the sun while we were not.  In a little over 2 minutes, totality was over.   There were many responses to the eclipse, some quite emotional or spiritual.

People started to pack up, to face the drive home on crowded highways.  We stayed until the eclipse was over, and then drove back to our campsite.   We had decided to spend the night, and let the roads clear.  On Tuesday we drove home.

Beyond the eclipse, we were impressed by the residents and the vast open spaces. The residents were highly organized, friendly and helpful.  The residents were genuinely excited to welcome us to a very big event in their backyard.   They told us to come back, and we shall.