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Researching this event has me discovering that Texas is pretty horrible when it comes to public lands. There's basically nothing in the totality path for the entire state.. a few small state parks and and it's a near guarantee those are going to be jam packed with day trippers. Well, everything along the route is going to be jam packed. But I feel like Texas is going to be a step above due to proximity to some enormous cities. That happened in 2017 so it's gonna happen again in 2024. I'm thinking the situation will force me into Arkansas where there's at least some national forest. All dense forest with limited clearings but unfortunately the further north you go the worse the weather trends get so that might be my sweet spot. Any locals in here that got feedback? Wish I'd found this thread sooner because I've been trying to figure out a plan since spring.
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Nov 2, 2023 16:59
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xzzy posted:Researching this event has me discovering that Texas is pretty horrible when it comes to public lands. There's basically nothing in the totality path for the entire state.. a few small state parks and and it's a near guarantee those are going to be jam packed with day trippers. Well, everything along the route is going to be jam packed. But I feel like Texas is going to be a step above due to proximity to some enormous cities. That happened in 2017 so it's gonna happen again in 2024. If you're looking to be in the NE Texas/SW Arkansas area, I might suggest Beaver's Bend State Park in SE Oklahoma.
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Nov 2, 2023 17:36
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Judgy Fucker posted:If you're looking to be in the NE Texas/SW Arkansas area, I might suggest Beaver's Bend State Park in SE Oklahoma. Thanks, I had actually just scrolled over that the other day and then forgot to dig into it deeper. How's the hiking/roads back in there? I prefer to be away from folks as much as possible so was considering some of the side roads off the NE side of the lake. The sun will pretty much be at its highest point in the sky during the eclipse in that area so my ability to get an epic earth+sun photo are pretty slim but I'll try anyways. Maybe hike into one of the south facing coves and see if I can manage something.
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Nov 2, 2023 18:09
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xzzy posted:Thanks, I had actually just scrolled over that the other day and then forgot to dig into it deeper. How's the hiking/roads back in there? I prefer to be away from folks as much as possible so was considering some of the side roads off the NE side of the lake. I'm unfortunately not as experienced a hiker as I'd like to be, but I do know they have several trails, including at least one lengthy back-country trail in the park. The area has become a bit of a tourist destination in recent years, for both good and ill, so traffic along US-259 can get kinda bad. However, the vast bulk of that stuff is on the SW side of the lake and park, so if you're shooting for the NE side you should be able to avoid a lot of that. Quality of the roads is iffy, at best. The highways are fine but if you get onto local roads you're gonna wanna watch out.
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Nov 2, 2023 18:22
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Yeah Texas is pretty bad about public land. Personally I'm going to a friend's piece of land near Marble Falls, TX so I can sit in a river with beers and watch the eclipse. Your best bet is to either find a city with a large public park (I would suggest Austin or San Antonio for this) or find a friend with private land you can go stay at or rent a cabin or yurt in central Texas at one of those places that rents those.
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Nov 8, 2023 02:15
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I saw a story a couple days ago that I can't find now, reservations for the state parks in Texas open this week for eclipse weekend (5 months in advance, so that would have been today if you want to get in a day early). Which doesn't really bother me, I had no intention to reserve a camp site. But what did stick out to me is that all the state parks will be closed to entry unless you have a reservation. Seems odd, I kind of get it, but parks are usually pretty open to day use too.
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Nov 8, 2023 02:29
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xzzy posted:Researching this event has me discovering that Texas is pretty horrible when it comes to public lands. There's basically nothing in the totality path for the entire state.. a few small state parks and and it's a near guarantee those are going to be jam packed with day trippers. Well, everything along the route is going to be jam packed. But I feel like Texas is going to be a step above due to proximity to some enormous cities. That happened in 2017 so it's gonna happen again in 2024. If you get on it right this minute, White Rock Recreation Area in the Ozark National Forest might still have spots. They opened reservations on Saturday. The closest spots within the path of totality to that campground are about 20 miles to the east on Forest Service roads along Arkansas Hwy 23, in the Cass to Turner Bend area. I've got family who work for the Forest Service, and they are preparing for basically a complete shutdown of roads and public land through that part of Arkansas. Their projection is over a million people and they anticipate the roads to be gridlocked. This is the biggest event for public lands around there in decades, maybe ever. It'll bring more people into Arkansas in a few days time than Hurricane Katrina did. HenryJLittlefinger fucked around with this message at 23:54 on Nov 13, 2023 |
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Nov 13, 2023 23:51
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HenryJLittlefinger posted:If you get on it right this minute, White Rock Recreation Area in the Ozark National Forest might still have spots. They opened reservations on Saturday. The closest spots within the path of totality to that campground are about 20 miles to the east on Forest Service roads along Arkansas Hwy 23, in the Cass to Turner Bend area. Checked it out on recreation.gov, and they have the 7th-10th blocked out with "closure: administration". So I guess they have other designs for that area. Hopefully they don't start closing down roads too as my current plan is to find a turnout and chill out for a couple days. quote:I've got family who work for the Forest Service, and they are preparing for basically a complete shutdown of roads and public land through that part of Arkansas. Their projection is over a million people and they anticipate the roads to be gridlocked. This is the biggest event for public lands around there in decades, maybe ever. It'll bring more people into Arkansas in a few days time than Hurricane Katrina did. I did the 2017 eclipse in Oregon, and it was bad, but it wasn't that bad. Granted the number of dense cities close to the Ozarks is much greater than eastern Oregon, but the advantage in this case is that the biggest cities in the area are also in the totality path. I appreciate the forest service putting in effort to prepare but the simple problem is no one can predict how many are going to show up, this type of event doesn't happen often enough. They definitely need to prepare for the worst but I suspect things will be mostly fine. The annular last month had the same issue, they planned the best they could and a lot of people did show up but it wasn't 36 hours of gridlock. I had empty roads that afternoon as I headed towards my next campsite. Every ranger had boxes of unused viewing glasses. Fun snapshot from 2017: this is the Madras region in Oregon about 15 minutes after totality: 
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Nov 14, 2023 00:15
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Just checked my flights from TJ to Mazatlan thanks to a Reddit post, and they bumped our return flight home from Wednesday to Saturday. So anyone flying for this, double check your flights again cause the airlines are already loving around.
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Nov 14, 2023 00:20
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xzzy posted:Checked it out on recreation.gov, and they have the 7th-10th blocked out with "closure: administration". So I guess they have other designs for that area. Hopefully they don't start closing down roads too as my current plan is to find a turnout and chill out for a couple days. Try this link: https://whiterockmountain.com/cometakeapeakwhiterockmountain/ Yeah, I genuinely hope it's not the crowd they're preparing for. I don't want the Ozarks hosed up by the amount of trash and poo poo that would bring. The rainbow gathering was there about 15 years ago and there's at least one wilderness area campsite that had watermelons growing in it for years after because of those trashy fuckers. One of the things about roads in that part of the country is that there are very few easy detours in any given location unless you are comfortable improvising on dirt backroads, which may be in pretty poo poo condition in April. One wreck or stranded big rig on a switchback can lock up a whole lot of through traffic for hours. It's happened to me a bunch, and I've also gotten stuck in bad mud in a few places around there trying to avoid highways. Also check out Shores Lake Recreation Area, it's a cool little spot to camp, and a similar distance from the path. The Mulberry River between Cass and Oark has a couple campgrounds. Redding and Wolf Pen Recreation Areas are my favorites. Nearby, Turner Bend Outfitters has a little privately-owned campground, but they're probably booked already. Good place to stop for a sandwich and a poke in the river if you're passing through though. I haven't been to most of those spots since I was working forestry in college, but it stays pretty well maintained. I've been around the Mulberry River much more recently and all public access and campgrounds looked great. Farther south and into the path is Long Pool Recreation Area on Big Piney Creek. I was there in August and the campground is in good shape. Really pretty creek and good swimming hole. East of there on Hwy 7 is Moccasin Gap Recreation Area. It's ok, nothing special. Not a lot of open space around. In Russellville proper, which is closest to the longest period of totality, is Lake Dardanelle State Park. Very well built up state park on the Arkansas River, probably heavy on RV traffic. Lots of space to wander around with kids, plenty of birds and boats and stuff to look at, but not remote at all. South of Russellville and I-40, check out Cove Lake Recreation Area and other places around Mt. Magazine State Park, and Mt. Nebo State Park. These will probably be some of the best viewing areas since they're about as high in elevation as you can get with a lot of open space. HenryJLittlefinger fucked around with this message at 00:36 on Nov 14, 2023 |
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Nov 14, 2023 00:33
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Bumping this thread because we are only 2 months out people, 60 days until totality!
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Feb 8, 2024 20:21
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Oh god oh god oh god, so much planning to do! (I'm throwing a party and inviting everyone over. Hope the skies are good).
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Feb 9, 2024 05:04
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My plan is to be in Austin proper -- we have friends we can stay with out there so we don't need to get lodging. Is there any consensus on a park or something where the viewing will be good?
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Feb 9, 2024 06:13
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yeah, outside
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Feb 9, 2024 06:31
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I hope it don't rain.
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Feb 9, 2024 07:26
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more falafel please posted:My plan is to be in Austin proper -- we have friends we can stay with out there so we don't need to get lodging. Is there any consensus on a park or something where the viewing will be good? Austin is near the edge of totality, so right in the middle of the city it's about 90 seconds. The airport is outside of the path. You can get about 3m30s by going maybe 30 miles east or around 2m30s by traveling 30 miles north. Round rock is ~20 miles up the highway and it's ~2m45s there. When you're near the edge of the path, you can get a lot of additional time by just getting a little bit closer toward the centerline. I don't know the area but it's something to consider. bawfuls fucked around with this message at 09:26 on Feb 9, 2024 |
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Feb 9, 2024 09:21
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I got a motel room in Abilene that I'm gonna drive down to and stay over night. Then in the morning, check weather and go from there. Can head east towards dallas or south towards austin.
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Feb 9, 2024 16:02
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This was announced in the Marble Falls TX community meeting:quote:3-day event—-sun mon (day) tues
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Feb 9, 2024 17:20
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Expect absolute madness anywhere the total eclipse will be visible from, no matter the size of the community or anywhere in between them. I'm hoping my plan to be on I-79 to go to Erie, Pennsylvania, by 5 am is good enough.
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Feb 9, 2024 17:36
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Mustache Ride posted:This was announced in the Marble Falls TX community meeting: I saw the 2017 eclipse from a community in rural South Carolina and traffic was a non-event. Maybe a little bit of backup leaving town, but nothing to be concerned about. I'd wager a lot of the above is preparing for the worst by about a factor of 10.
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Feb 9, 2024 19:21
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The thing is in 2017 a lot of people weren’t familiar with eclipses. Millions of Americans saw it for the first time and told all their friends who missed out. Many saw partial coverage because they didn’t know what a difference totality makes, but they found out when their friends or family came home and told them. Just look at this thread or the Reddit sub for how many posts there are from people who saw 90%+ last time and are determined to see totality this time. I think significantly more people will seek totality this April than did so in 2017, and traffic could be much worse. This one does go over more major metro areas though. I’m not sure if that will make traffic better or worse, hard to say. But if your rural traffic experience in 2017 was mild, I’d say you were the exception not the rule. bawfuls fucked around with this message at 19:34 on Feb 9, 2024 |
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Feb 9, 2024 19:31
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I’m in Toronto, which is only getting a partial eclipse but I’m thinking of driving down to catch the totality. Odds are high that it will be cloudy though, so I’m not sure how much want to commit to it. It’d be about an hour and a half drive on a good day, who knows on eclipse day. I would look at booking a place to stay, but it’s a coin toss at best whether the sky will be clear enough to see anything.
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Feb 9, 2024 19:50
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From Toronto it might be worth a game-time decision if you can’t commit to a more involved mission. Keep a close eye on the weather in the days leading up to the event, if the forecast looks good the night before then get up early and make the drive in the morning. If the weather prospects for everything within a reasonable driving distance look lovely the night before then just stay home. I’d be prepared for a VERY slow drive back home that evening though. Ideally you could find somewhere to sleep in your car Monday night and drive home Tuesday morning. That’s how I’d be thinking of it if I were in Toronto with a little time but not enough for a bigger trip.
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Feb 9, 2024 20:00
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Based on being near a hotspot in 2017 (the mountains near Bend, OR) the majority of spectators will have the same idea. Hop in the car extremely early, get to a spot, and 2 seconds after totality ends jump in the car and try to beat the rush home. The roads around Bend were dark red on google maps for several hours. If you can overnight or make a day of it to let traffic die down it might actually be an enjoyable experience. Unfortunately given the path of this eclipse there is not a lot of public land to spread out into. The annular eclipse last fall had the same doom-and-gloom warnings but traffic never really materialized. It passed over vast swaths of BLM territory so it was relatively easy to park on a bare patch somewhere and camp for a couple nights. Annulars aren't as spectacular either and that almost certainly played into suppressing traffic. I feel like the panic from regional authorities is just something they have to do, these events happen so rarely it's hard to predict what's going to happen. So they assume the worst.
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Feb 9, 2024 20:13
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Glimpse posted:I’m in Toronto, which is only getting a partial eclipse but I’m thinking of driving down to catch the totality. Odds are high that it will be cloudy though, so I’m not sure how much want to commit to it. Comedy option: steal a boat and beeline straight south through the lake. Other comedy option, we finally have a use for the fast ferry now, too bad it was scrapped a decade ago!
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Feb 9, 2024 20:22
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If anyone is on the fence about going to the path of totality because you are hanging around the umbra, GO TO THE TOTALITY. Having totality anywhere near where you are is on the scale of literal once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I decided not to drive 6 hours down to Oregon in 2017, thinking that there would be more opportunities in the future. After, I looked at the almanac and it is never coming as close to where I live in the remainder of my entire life. The next closest is this year, 2 days drive away in Texas. Some time in the coming decades, I could drive 13 hours to Alberta. On top of the distance thing, you need to have good weather, and be in the right season. All of these factors make it virtually impossible for me to see a totality without an inordinate cost.
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Feb 9, 2024 21:10
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Turbinosamente posted:Comedy option: steal a boat and beeline straight south through the lake. Other comedy option, we finally have a use for the fast ferry now, too bad it was scrapped a decade ago! Surprised I haven’t heard of any eclipse cruises considering you wouldn’t have to go very far on the lake to get under the totality, but maybe all those booze cruise boats aren’t seaworthy enough to go out of the harbour. I’m looking at trains now. Could catch the GO to like St Catherines maybe and not have to worry about traffic.
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Feb 9, 2024 21:22
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We've got plans to travel to New Brunswick to see it. If it looks like it will be cloudy or rainy (somewhat likely in the eastern provinces), we'll cancel. Can't wait though. Hope it's sunny 
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Feb 9, 2024 21:55
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Mantle posted:If anyone is on the fence about going to the path of totality because you are hanging around the umbra, GO TO THE TOTALITY. But yeah the rarity is not so obvious at first.
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Feb 9, 2024 22:38
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I personally am excited for the Iceland eclipse in 2026 and the Alaska one in 2033. Both are big travel situations (the Alaska one in particular is rough) but they're also great places to just visit. The 2017 repeat in 2045 I might be able to watch from a wheelchair.
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Feb 9, 2024 23:08
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xzzy posted:but they're also great places to just visit. He keeps an eye on where they are going to be and if there’s one that coincides with a place he wants to visit anyway, he plans the vacation around it. In typical retired boomer fashion this has taken him to Egypt, South Africa, Chile/Argentina, China, Iceland, and the South Pacific among others. But a lot of people are less interested in or able to travel the world like that so that’s why I’ve been hyping this year and did the same for 2017 to friends and anyone else who will listen.
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Feb 9, 2024 23:12
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bawfuls posted:Not sure how old you are but 2045 is a similar path to 2017 but shifted south a bit, so it will cross Northern California instead of central Oregon. Thats probably closer than Texas but also maybe we are all dead in a nuclear fireball before then. I forgot, another factor that needs to line up is your personal life circumstances as well. I was actually planning a trip to Texas this eclipse until my partner had a situation come up where she couldn't fly around that time, so I can't do the trip anymore. So even in 2045, if I have still have my health, there is a roll of the dice.
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Feb 10, 2024 00:57
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I've settled on Kingston, Ontario and bought a train ticket. It's a bit more off centre than Niagara-Buffalo but probably a lot less crazy, and there's several same day return options.
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Feb 16, 2024 03:42
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I don’t wanna blow up my spot on these dead gay comedy forums, but the closest place I can witness totality is northwestern Pennsylvania, so I was planning to camp in Allegheny national forest (free backcountry camping ftw) for a night or two and then skip over to somewhere (not sure yet) within the path of totality Monday. I know the cloud cover will be a coin toss, but it’s my only option. Great idea? Terrible idea?
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Mar 1, 2024 15:15
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the best option is the one most accessable to you. local weather is a poo poo show so roll the dice and be ready to drive morning of to move out of cloud cover I'm going to buttfuck rural IL to see it so feel free to find me in my "spot"
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Mar 1, 2024 18:36
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How much are flights to places like Reykjavik already jacked up in terms of price for Aug 2026? (can you even buy airline tickets that far ahead of time? probably not?)
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Mar 2, 2024 05:08
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Wouldn’t Spain be easier for 2026? I’m gonna watch the 2024 eclipse from Niagara Falls, but sadly can’t drive so I gotta cross my fingers for good weather. At least I have the falls to watch if the weather fails. ymgve fucked around with this message at 15:44 on Mar 2, 2024 |
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Mar 2, 2024 15:42
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Probably, the skies are more likely to be clear too. But Iceland's westfjords are the closest land to the greatest eclipse, which provides the longest totality. Which is only a 30 second difference but there's still value in that. I think 2.5 years out is too early to make actual reservations but it's definitely worth starting to plan things out.
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Mar 2, 2024 16:03
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I'm going to buy my ticket today for SFO to DFW (Cheaper than AUS and I need a car for the whole trip and they're not too far apart). I should have bought it a while ago, it's a bit steeper than I was hoping. I have been on the fence about making the trip because of the weather, and with getting time off from work. My old friend who grew up across from my house in my home town will put me up for my week there (confirmed yesterday—yay  ) . I'm hoping to be up a bit on some elevation, and based on the weather, and will really want to be on the centerline, no matter where exactly I see it. Ultimately I'm getting excited though for total eclipse #3 (should have been eclipse #4 — grrrr.) I'm resigned that my chances of not experiencing it are fairly high, for the first time. Landing on 4/3 and leaving 4/10, Wednesday to Wednesday. Is anyone here from or going to Texas with some tips? Or have plans? Besides layovers at DFW this will be my first visit to the state, so I will be having a good time just being there, and any and all recommendations, warnings, the good the bad and the ugly — please tell me about them, or DM me. Djimi fucked around with this message at 21:38 on Mar 3, 2024 |
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Mar 2, 2024 19:07
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Northern Vermont appears to be directly in the path Staying winning
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Mar 2, 2024 19:46
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