The solar eclipse tour of 2017 met at the Salt Lake City airport around noon. Following tee-shirt distribution, we drove into the city for a quick lunch stop that happened to be by a Utah State Liquor Store. Our driver, Tristan, takes us to Antelope Island for a glimpse of wildlife. We decided to go here first because post eclipse traffic was predicted to be horrible.
We viewed the great waterfalls on the Yellowstone River from the North and South sides. The yellow rock lends it’s color to the name of the park. The green stripe in the waterfalls is due to blue water and yellow rock. There is no agitation for this spillage of water, thus the green color.
On Antelope Island we look for Bison. It is past rutting time, so we see this bad boy hanging out alone. There seems to be plenty of grass, but the Salt Lake won’t quench his thirst. We had wonderful views overlooking the Salt Lake.
The Grizzly Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone was full of surprises. I was thinking it would be a regular zoo with bears napping and wolves sleeping. Quite the contrary. The three bears paced back and forth in their rather large grassland enclosure. There were two orphaned brothers and another unrelated bear sharing the habitat. They were only outdone by the wolves. One wolf carried a large fish from one end of his pen to the other prancing around as if he knew who the star was. In the evening the wolves were howling. We walked over to the center wanting to record the sound. The traffic and it related noise disappears and the wolves decide to knock it off. I did not want to record the wolves over traffic noise.
Video on our solar eclipse tour of the solar eclipse itself. The corona is amazing and photography does not do it justice.
The solar eclipse itself was the clearest and sharpest I have ever witnessed. There was not a cloud in the sky. As the air began to chill, there were not cloud formations brought on by the temperature drop. The corona was massive and from noon to three o’clock the prominences were splendid. I the binoculars the image was so sharp and clear. It makes me wish I would have set up a small refractor to shoot through. In one direction the shy was red with the 36o degree sunset. Because of buildings on two sides, I can’t comment on all directions.
I was running video and viewing via binoculars. I planned to get a shot of shadow bands, but I had to have the camera mounted and the white sidewalk was 4o feet away before totality. The pre eclipse fun was great with crescents every where with colanders and spoons brought out from our units to the observing area.
We took the easiest float trip ever down the Snake River. I was jealous of the fly fisherman along the way. I could easily waste away a day standing in the two foot deep water casting a line to catch a trout. The views a closeness of the Tetons were amazing. We have no moose reports on this run. We end close to the Chapel of the Transfiguration. This 20 person church has an amazing view of the Tetons. I could not figure out how to take a picture out the window from the first pew.
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