Here's what I got. We were up on a ridge that required 4x4, a few all wheel drive cute-utes got stuck or damaged while we were there, trying to make it to our camp site, and to the next higher peak. So that was fun. All in all, there were a lot of people around, but the people who got to where we were (and stayed) all had that calm overlander mentality. It ended up being one of the best camping trips I've had in a long time.
The best of the few I got. This is virtually unedited from an exposure that shows a realistic view of how it looked and felt to be there.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bhcmbailey/35893390284/in/datetaken-public/" title="An Alien View"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4436/35893390284_7167ea7992_z.jpg" width="640" height="424" alt="An Alien View"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Not the best shot, should have fooled with the exposure a bit more, but I was trying to use my two minutes to get a few different shots in, and to stop looking through the camera for a bit. You can faintly see a star in this photo:
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bhcmbailey/36728090215/in/datetaken-public/" title="Totality"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4435/36728090215_9f2fbebafe_z.jpg" width="640" height="424" alt="Totality"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I've seen several eclipses, but unless you've been in the umbra shadow, it's like nothing on earth. Yeah, at 99% it gets all weirdly dark and cool, but nothing really prepares you for when the shadow actually hits. You can see it coming at you from miles away. The high clouds to the west of us first turned dark, but only in that one spot. Then the far ridges went dark, and it spilled over into the valley below us. Almost instantly it is on you, dusk to dark like someone flipped a switch and the whole landscape becomes insane -- especially when on a hill top in the high desert of Oregon with a 360 degree view. It's totally otherworldly. Like suddenly being on a different planet with a black hole for a sun. The stars do come out. The crickets start chirping. The night hawks begin to screech. Then suddenly it's light again, and this surreal experience just leaves chills down your back.
I'll post more of the trip here:
https://www.flickr.com/gp/bhcmbailey/j3i0J1
