40th Birthday Adventure Day 4: Annular Solar Eclipse

The big event of the trip (aside from my actual birthday) was upon us – the annular solar eclipse that would be happening over a big swath of the western United States!

So what is an annular solar eclipse? Unlike what some sources and popular beliefs state, it is not an eclipse that happens annually, meaning every year. An annular solar eclipse happens with the moon passes between the sun and earth (what every solar eclipse is), but does so when it is at or near its furthest point from earth. Because the moon is farther away, the moon appears smaller than the sun and therefore does not completely cover the sun. As a result, the moon is a dark disk with a bright ring around it (which is the sun). An annular eclipse is sometimes called a “Ring of Fire” eclipse.

Unlike a total solar eclipse, where the moon completely blocks the sun, it is not safe to view an annular eclipse at anytime without proper protective eyewear – eclipse glasses! I still had my pair from the 2017 eclipse, and Eric ordered up a pack from Amazon (Great Basin National Park was also giving away eclipse glasses for free)… seriously, don’t look at an annular eclipse with just your naked eyes! Annular eclipses do not get quite the attention that total solar eclipses (like the 2017 one that went across a large portion of the western United States) since there is no total darkness that occurs, but with 2023’s version hitting a lot of popular national parks like Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, and Mesa Verde, along with the Four Corners area (where Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico meet) there was a bit of hoopla regardless.

We awoke to a great sunrise, and took the morning easy as the moon made its way towards the sun. I decided to get into full festive mode, which included wearing a slash that declared “R.I.P. To My 30s” and having a local beer for breakfast. With our citizen scientist paperwork at the ready, I took to staring at the sky while Eric fixed up coffee and breakfast.

At 8:07am the moon made first contact with the sun and I’m sure I made some sort of squealing sound as I peered up through my eclipse glasses. I had initially this morning decided I wouldn’t use my Nikon DLSR, but figured I would drag out the tripod and stack three neutral density (ND) filters together. Warning: technically you should be using a special solar filter to photograph the sun during an eclipse, and it is never safe to just look through the viewfinder at the sun with a DLSR. I looked at solar filters, but they were more expensive than I was wanting to spend, so I stacked three ND filters together. My eyes and camera sensor came away unscathed, but I never did a long exposure and I still have one of those “old-fashioned” mirrored cameras… I digress… my DLSR photos are not perfect, but still captured some good memories!

Over the course of the next eighty minutes or so, we watched as the light dimmed and temperature dropped, and took to doing science with measuring shadows of objects. At 9:24am the full annular eclipse stated, and it lasted maybe four or five minutes total before the moon moved away. I had missed seeing the totality of the 2017 total eclipse that traveled across most of Wyoming, so I was happy to have finally witnessed an eclipse, even if it wasn’t totally dark outside!

As daylight increased (but we still shivered from the temperature drop), we took to packing up our campsite and preparing to head east into Utah for the final night of my adventure. We swung through the Great Basin Visitor Center to check out the exhibits we skipped over days before, turned in our citizen scientist paperwork, and bid Baker farewell.

The Great Basin extends east, so we traveled through more desolate basin and range topography, dotted with some salty lake beds. In Delta, Utah we stopped for a large lunch at Taco Shop El Jalisciense. The generous portions really hit the spot!

With an early morning lantern cave tour booked at Timpanogos Cave National Monument in the morning, we headed up the American Fork Canyon in the Wasatch Mountains in search of a legal place to camp. As we headed up the Alpine Loop Scenic Byway (State Route 92), we realized many of the places marked on iOverlander were probably not quite okay to camp in overnight, especially when a bright orange roof top tent is concerned (damn those vanlifers, they’re so much more discrete!). We finally settled on nabbing a spot in the Timponeeke Campground on its final night of the season. Confirmed by the campground hosts, we hit the lottery with the stunning views from campsite #18!

After a stroll to take some photos, I settled in on repacking all my things for my flight home the next day before huddling in my comically puffy-puffy jacket in the near freezing temperatures (coldest night for sure!) and eating some taco soup.

Goodnight, 39!