Trip to Eclipse Pt 1: Miracles and Amateur Campers
In honor of the year anniversary of the USA solar eclipse, I decided to write a few posts about Matt’s and my epic “Trip to Eclipse” road trip…
It was 5 AM on Saturday morning, August 19, 2017. Matt and I were already sitting in my mom’s mini cooper (which she lent us for this road trip) with the engine running. The car was over-packed with camping equipment, snacks, and duffel bags.
We were ready for this road trip and for the solar eclipse and we were way too excited to be tired.
A bit of a backstory on why we were embarking on this adventure: Matt and I met for the first time in late December 2017 and on our second date in January of 2018, Matt told me about this solar eclipse -- this cosmic phenomenon happening in the coming August. He said the best place to see it was Tennessee, and that we should go see it together. We agreed that if we were still together and liked each other in August, we would make the trip for this eclipse.
So here we were: Armed with maps and our phone GPS (thank you, modern technology), we made our way down to Asheville North Carolina – our first stop. We were only there overnight, but we had plenty of time to peruse local bookstores, drink craft beer, and, of course, get a good, cheesy, Southern breakfast in the next day.
*Only one day and Matt’s beard was already growing toward lumberjack levels*
Next was the drive to Chilhowee Campground in Tennessee for the main event.
When we originally started looking into camping in Tennessee for the eclipse, we were disappointed to find that most campsites were all booked up. Mind you, we were looking months in advance, but it seemed some people had started booking a year in advance. When we stumbled across Chilhowee on a camping map, it seemed way too good to be true, but we snatched it up.
On the drive down, we passed tons of signs about solar eclipse parties. Even back in Asheville, most of the local small businesses had signs taped to the window saying “Closed for Eclipse” or advertising a party they were hosting for the magic event.
The campsite itself, however, was totally not crowded – the opposite of what we were expecting. It was perfect. We set up camp, made some dinner, and played a game of “who can find the biggest bug in the bathroom”. I think I won.
A camp ranger came around to warn everyone not to venture too far from the campsite for the time being because there was a bear and her cub roaming nearby.
So, of course, as we tried to turn in early so we could wake up to scope out an eclipse spot, I was wide awake imagining a bear ripping the tent open.
This did not happen. However, we didn’t think we needed the rain guard on top of the tent and in fact we did get rained on a little in the night.
Undeterred, we woke up early in the morning, packed our backpacks with snacks and hammocks, and set off hiking to find the perfect spot for the solar eclipse. We were convinced this would take a few hours, but we actually found a good spot in less than an hour of hiking.
It was a big clearing in the middle of the woods – a spot we were sure would soon be flooded with eclipse viewers.
We wandered a little farther and set up hammocks in the forest to kill time. When we returned to the clearing for the start of the eclipse, we were delighted to find it was still completely empty.
I guess I didn’t do enough eclipse reading because I was thinking that it would be completely dark for the entire length of the eclipse. I also heard somewhere that nocturnal animals get confused and come out, so I tied our snack bag up in a tree a little ways away from us in case any bears came for it.
We laid out our blanket and waited. And waited.
We were starting to get sweaty out there and nothing much seemed to be happening so we moved under a tree at the edge. Soon, another couple joined us. It was their year wedding anniversary and they decided to celebrate it by doing what we were doing – taking a road trip to witness this miracle of the sky.
The four of us chatted a bit and excitedly interrupted each other every time we saw some movement in the sky. The sun and moon were growing progressively closer, so we moved back into the field and gazed up at the sky, armed with our eclipse protective glasses (which my mom bought a 50 pack of).
The shows around us started to get a little strange – it felt like the forest darkness all around was creeping in on us. As the sun and moon crept closer, the sky turned dark shades of purple. Then, there it was, the moon in front of the sun. Above us, the sky was completely dark, but all around the edges of the forest, it was sunset-colored. It was as if we were experiencing all times of day at once.
And above, we took off our glasses to see the perfect shining white halo around the moon. For that one minute and however many seconds, we all felt loopy, almost high. We snapped a few photos, but the time was so short, we just wanted to savor the moment gazing up at this miracle.
Much more suddenly than it began, it was all over, but we were all still lying in the grass in complete and utter awe.
After a little while, we gathered up our things and parted ways. Matt and I continued hiking until we came upon a waterfall. People were scattered throughout the pools, daring to climb the sides of the falls, and sticking their head under the icy splash. We set up our hammocks on the side and spent a while there, cooling down and chilling out and talking about the amazing thing we had just seen.
Back at the campsite, we discovered that our bear-proof contained was not ant-proof and much of our food had gotten infested with ants. (Can you tell we’re amateur campers?) Luckily, we also bought freeze-dried food from the big REI store so we were prepared with a backup dinner. We spent that one last night in the tent and then the next morning we were off again, toward Chattanooga, Tennessee.