The Great American Eclipse 2017

August 2017

After returning from my solo trip in April I was very excited to start planning my next adventure. My good friend Sam was talking about going to see the total solar eclipse that was happening in August 2017. Sam was content to drive to the nearest location for totality and just find a random parking lot to see the eclipse happen (I like to think he was joking…but I’m not sure), while I was determined to see this natural event happen in a nature setting. The nearest location to us in Central Florida where we could drive to a national park would be the Great Smoky Mountains.

When we started looking at our options the special events were already sold out, but there was nothing that said we couldn’t find a beautiful turn out and just wait for the eclipse. I was able to find a campsite in the Smokemont Camping area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for 2 nights, the night before the eclipse and the night of the eclipse. It didn’t leave much time to explore the park, but that was alright with us, we only had a couple days off of work to make this happen.

We woke up super early to get on the road. Because I am who I am, I needed to trade off as the driver after only a couple of hours to take a nap (I am very much not a morning person). We entered the park and went to the visitor center to find out more information and to determine where we were going to attempt to view the eclipse. We quickly realized that inside of the national park there would only be about 10 seconds of eclipse totality. In the nearby Nantahala National Forest we could get almost 2 1/2 miniatures of totality. After deciding where we would go the next day we set about making camp and then determining what we would do for the rest of the afternoon.

With camp set up to our liking we decided to go to the Deep Creek area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We couldn’t get to the Tennessee side of the park by going through the park because the road to Clingman’s Dome was closed in preparation for the special event. Upon arrival to the Deep Creek area we were overwhelmed by the number of visitors who were tubing, we didn’t realize this is a very popular activity in the park. There was basically no parking, so that was a fight, but we finally found a spot and then went for our hike.

We started on the Juney Whank trail which takes hikers to a waterfall. We continued on the hike through the wooded area until we magically made our way over a bridge back to the main trail that all the tubers were going on. We started walking to the Indian Creek falls when other hikers came back down the trail speaking very loudly and announcing there was a bear on the trail. Well, idiots that Sam and I are, we wanted to see that bear and couldn’t be bothered to heed warnings. We hiked maybe a few dozen yards and then saw, lumbering down the trail, a small adult American Black Bear. It was just moseying along without a care in the world, and it was walking our direction. I pulled Sam down a side path out of the bear’s way so we could still see the animal, but also to make sure we were at least a little bit safer. The bear passed where we were standing and down the path and then was out of sight. We walked to the waterfall and from our perch saw the bear again on the other side of the river without any idea of when it had crossed further downstream and then made it’s way across from where we were standing. After that excitement we finished our hike and went to make camp dinner!

The next morning it was time to go to the Nantahala National Forest to stake out our spot to wait for the eclipse. We left very early from the park for the 2PM (ish) totality time. When we entered the National Forest we stopped at an information post with a map and I picked a hiking area called Hooper Bald – there was bathroom in the parking area and a bald on a mountain is an area void of trees, so I thought that might be the best location. When we pulled into the parking area it was already overly full, so we had to park alongside the roadway on the way to the trailhead, but we were able to wedge ourselves within the parking area! Luckily we got there when we did because very soon after we arrived the Forest Rangers put up a sign indicating parking was full and other hikers/visitors had to park even further away.

Once we got to the bald area we walked around for a while to find the perfect spot. We walked over near another family who had camped at the bald overnight to secure their location. As the day wore on, more and more visitors arrived. Many were like us, clearly hikers and here to see something cool, families with children arrived, couples, friends, solo visitors, but then there were others who arrived who I felt like were there to put on a show and I wasn’t mad about it! There were groups who arrived who were there to not only see a cool event like we were, but who were there to commune with nature. One group who arrived had a couple who were seemingly contortionists (at least that’s what their yoga moves looked like to me) and another group was sitting in a circle and chanting. The eclipse brought out people of all different backgrounds and practices. And at that point we all sat to enjoy together. As the time neared for totality there was a lot of cloud cover (I mean, we were still basically in the Smoky Mountains – it’s in the name). Sam asked if I wanted to leave our spot to try to find somewhere with less cloud cover, but we could see the roadway in the distance and it was in gridlock, so I told him we would just have to wait and hope for the best because what would end up happening was we would be stuck in the car when totality happened and we would miss it if we left our spot.

As we sat and waited, it started happening and the moon began its slow progress across the sun. We could see it all. Then -totality- and we had a completely unobstructed view of the total eclipse. I think the whole area around us became hushed and awed as the sky suddenly turned into an eerie twilight. Everyone was experiencing the eclipse and it was incredible. And then after those 2 minutes it was over and people started the task of getting out of the National Forest. Sam and I lingered for a little while to try to avoid the hikers on the trail on the way out, but then it was time for us to leave as well and join the multitudes on the road as we made our way back to the camp ground in the National Park.

The next morning we packed up camp because it was time for us to head home. But I wasn’t ready to leave yet, despite being in the park for 2 nights we really hadn’t seen much of it, so we decided to drive up to Clingman’s Dome, the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, so we could say we’d seen it. We hiked up to the spiral viewpoint structure at the summit (and yikes that is a steep hike). We saw panoramic vistas of the park and surrounding area and even took a side trail to very briefly walk along the Appalachian Trail that passes next to the Clingman’s Dome. Then it was time for us to leave the park to start the 10 hour drive home. Of course, we stopped at a few turnouts on the way out!