Clear blue Timothy Lake from the Hoodview Campground.
The 2017 Solar Eclipse hit my radar in December of 2016 when I was scanning the annual year end travel articles on the best places to visit for the upcoming year. There on the list with places like London and Paris was the town of Madras, Oregon. Being from Portland and having many times driven through sleepy little Madras at 25 MPH on my way to Bend, Oregon it caught my attention – why would Madras be on the list of best places to visit in 2017? That’s when I learned about the all-american solar eclipse of 2017 that was starting on the Oregon coast and arcing its way across the USA to South Carolina.
Why Madras then? It was all about the path of totality and the chances of clear skies as the eclipse moved across the USA. Madras is in the high desert area of Central Oregon and the air is generally clear and the skies generally cloudless, especially in the heat of summer. And as the eclipse was due to hit totality (the moment during the eclipse when the moon completely blocks out the sun) at 10:21 AM on Monday August 21st there was a pretty good chance of clear skies in Madras – certainly more of a sure thing than being on the Oregon Coast or in the Willamette Valley. Armed with this knowledge I did my research about securing a campsite somewhere in Central Oregon in the path of totality. Easier said than done as I struck out on ReserveAmerica.com looking for spots at Camp Sherman and Suttle Lake – I settled for Timothy Lake on the eastern slope of Mt. Hood with a lovely lake view and the peak of Mt. Hood looming over the lake. My thinking was to get the westernmost campsite with a view of the mountain to the east where the sun would be coming up and I might be able capture Mt. Hood and the solar eclipse in the same photo.
Panorama view of Timothy Lake from the Hoodview Day Use area.
Again, easier said than done – I went up four days early to scout the location and left a cloud-covered Willamette Valley and broke out into the sun at Government Camp. The campground we had picked (Hoodview on Timothy Lake) appeared to be the right one with a stunning view of Mt. Hood but alas the sun at 10:20 in the morning was too far east to be able to capture the mountain and the eclipse in the same frame. But I had most of what I wanted – a clear day, a view of Mt. Hood, and a full view of the sun during the eclipse. The media’s prediction of monumental traffic jams had convinced me that I didn’t really want to make a 60 mile dash to Madras the morning of the eclipse and so now it was just a matter of getting a clear day on eclipse day.
The water at Timothy Lake was a bit chilly but the lake was dotted with boats, floats, and paddle boards for the big event.
We took off early Sunday morning the day before the eclipse and bracing for a slow crowded crawl up the mountain. To our surprise there was no traffic – so far, so good. As the bewitching hour one day prior to the big event rolled around there were two problems – high clouds and forest fire smoke. Had the eclipse been on Sunday rather than Monday it would have been very disappointing and all my early planning would have been for nothing.
We went to bed thinking we might have to make a dash early in the morning east towards Madras to get a clear view. The problem with that plan was that the route to Madras was expected to be mobbed the morning of the eclipse. As I tucked into the camper van for the night I looked up to see a sky full of stars – a hopeful sign.
Dawn at the lake broke with a few high clouds and mist on the water.
Morning dawned crisp and mostly clear on the mountain and we gathered up chairs and blankets and headed down to lake’s edge to secure our viewing spot for the big event. And what a day we had – high pressure had built in and cleared out the clouds by 9:00 AM, the wind was blowing smoke from the fire at nearby Frog Lake away from the mountain, and early morning mist on the lake had burned off and we had a clear view of both the sun and the mountain.
Everyone came prepared with special viewing glasses.
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My reading about solar eclipses had drummed one certain thing into my head – a solar eclipse was all about totality – those precious moments when the moon totally blocks out the sun bathing those in the path of totality in darkness. Only then are you safely allowed to remove your silly glasses and look directly up at the sun and see the brilliant edges of the sun illuminating the circumference of the moon.
Our view during totality.
Prior to the totality everything was bathed in an orange yellow glow giving things a surreal quality. As the darkness slowly descended upon us we noted how quiet everything became with even the birds holding back from the usual chirping. The temperature perceptibly dropped and a small breeze kicked up some ripples on the lake.
Darkness descends on the lake.
The totality lasted only a little over a minute rather than the 2 plus minutes they saw in Madras because Timothy Lake was not as centered on the totality path. But it was plenty of time to shed the solar glasses, remove the filter on my camera and capture a few shots and observe the surrounding area. As hoots and hollers from fellow viewers filled the air I captured a few shots of Mt. Hood during the totality.
Mt. Hood during totality.
While we were in the totality zone, the visible peak of Mt. Hood was just outside the path of totality and so I was able to capture what looks like sunset on Mt. Hood at 10:20 AM.
And then in just over a minute the totality was over and the sun’s powerful rays began to burst forth from behind the shadows of the moon. That was a signal to put our protective glasses back on and replace the filter on the camera and watch as the sun slowly separated itself from the moon’s shadow. After witnessing totality pretty much everything else seemed anti-climatic and although I continued to capture photos of the sun’s reappearance I knew that the best part of the show was over.
Photo credit to Joel Greenblum.
Shortly after the eclipse ended the campground began to empty out and on Monday night only about half the sites were occupied. In the morning we packed up and hit the road by 7:30 AM as we were a little afraid that we might hit some of the heavy traffic that was predicted. Once again no issues at all driving home and finishing off what was a memorable event featuring a spectacular show by Mother Nature.