Arizona Annular Solar Eclipse 2012

[Dschur]

For all you that want to plan an interesting trip.. there will be an annular solar eclipse in 2012 coming thru Arizona.. Will be up mostly in the four corners area.. Including Canyon De Chelley and Horseshoe Bend (along the center line) even up to Monument Valley I think from the map... The Annular eclipse will be at sunset should make for cool pictures....
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/S ... oogle.html

[desertgirl]

I plan on being in Page Horse Shoe Bend for eclispse..Lets see what the crowds look like -- fiven the roadkill nature of the location I am quite sure it will be a ZOO! Rooms booked in Page ( about 2 months ago).

[azbackpackr]

Well, you were smart! I didn't even know about it until a couple of weeks ago.

[PaleoRob]

This is why I have friends in town.

[azbackpackr]

This is why I have friends in town.

Well, I USED to have a friend in Page, but then he ran off and moved to Casa Grande!

[Jim]

If you want to camp, why not just go out onto the BLM land west of the river and camp. No fees, and the roads looked good for a dark tent pitch. FYI Liz, the bend is over 100 miles from my house. You wouldn't get to my place until well after 10 PM MDT, if traffic was good.

[azbackpackr]

The eclipse path crosses a road to the southwest of Kayenta, SW of Shonto, and that's where I would have gone if I found myself in that area. I probably will plan on camping in that spot you're talking about off 89A, and watch the eclipse from the top of the Spencer Trail, or possibly along 89A between 89 and the bridge. Kind of depends on the heat, and whether my foot is better so that I could hike.

I have no interest in going to Horseshoe Bend, never did have plans to go there. In fact, I think that anyone planning to go to the Bend had better have a motorhome with a generator and A/C, and show up very, very early that day, before sunrise, to grab a parking spot, and plan to spend some time there afterward, let the traffic die down. There is no place around there where it is going to be pleasant to wait all day, except if you happen to have friends in Page, like Rob does. It is just too danged hot, and there is no shade.

[Dschur]

There are rooms available for that sunday night just did a search on hotels.com and two are 90 a night and have rooms... don't know what price you were looking for... Best Western and Super 8

[azbackpackr]

Looking for "free." If I go, I'll camp off 89A and watch it from the Spencer Trail. I may not go. I will have just gotten back from here. But thanks for posting.

My daughter and her bf were able to reserve a campsite at Wahweap for Fri and Sat nights. They didn't want Sun night, since they have to drive back to Flag, traffic or no traffic.

[Jim]

Looks like perfect weather for this tomorrow.

[azbackpackr]

I'm heading for El Malpais National Conservation Area in New Mexico (it's next to the National Monument, but is BLM). It seems to be the closest "sweet spot" to Eagar. First 50 people to visitor's center will receive free eclipse glasses, but just in case, I am taking along several pairs of sunglasses and a black plastic bag. Either by looking through the bag, or by layering the sunglasses, I figure I can look at it fairly safely.

Have fun!

[Jim]

All this talk of not looking at the eclipse seems a little over blown if you just glance at it. It is supposed to be best near sunset, and how many sunsets have I watched by staring at the sun on the horizon? Sure, when the sun is still pretty high up, you don't want to look, but if you're not staring, how can it be worse than glancing at the sun in the same position on a normal day?

[Dschur]

We drove from Payson to Page yesterday for the eclipse watching it from Wahiweap Overlook. Was one of the neatest things to see.. My husband took pictures and we viewed using the little solar scope as well as his photographic one. There were lots of people but we had fun talking astronomy to other photographers up there. Will post some pictures when they are done...

[Jim]

I was disappointed with how high in the sky the sun was at the peak of the event, as it was not possible for me to photograph it, nor safely view it. Then, the sun went behind Skeleton Mesa before I was able to enjoy the event as a sunset. Still, I did view it (hopefully no permanent eye damage) through sunglasses and my car windshield in the part that has additional sun protection on it (the tinted part of the glass up near the top). It was interesting and neat to see the sun as a thin ring, and it was really cool having the sun be relatively high in the sky, but everything be so dim, because the light was dim. As though some celestial god had turned down the fusion a bit, but the sun's radiation hadn't slipped to the red spectrum.

[desertgirl]

Was at Horseshoe Bend for the eclipse -- crowded for Horseshoe bend- Yes. Crowded - not really! We got there 1 hr before & found parking on the road leading to parking lot. We had an amazing time watching the eclipse!

Met some really cool folks -

Family from Russia - coming here for viewing eclipse
Bunch of SW geeks that rented a plane & a local limo to get to the show on time!
British astronomers that came here for 5 days just to see the eclipse at totality! They shared their awesome telescope & showed me sunspots - I thought the spots on my sun were dust on sensor!
Some guy from Antigua that has seen all solar eclipses in last 70 years!
NPS was out in force making sure folks were safe & handing out a LOT of viewing glasses...

Overall fun place & everyone cheered & clapped when the ring of fire emerged! Pure magic!

[Dschur]

We had a couple from Hong Kong beside us as well as a guy and his buddy and family from Memphis... was cool talking to people while waiting for the eclipse we needed to be somewhere to work from the car as my husband was doing some serious imaging... most people we talked to had it on their bucket list to see an eclipse and thought AZ would be a better place to see it and with the views we had from the hill top overlooking the lake waiting with people from all around the world ...we had over 400 people since that was a site the NPS was using for the public viewing but made it more interesting.. there were 20 or more scopes that a couple of astronomy clubs brought for people to look at and they shuttled people from the visitor center to see.. so no traffic from about 3pm to time the eclipse was over... I was one of the first to annouce first contact and the cheers were all around as well as when we got to see the ring for the first time....

[desertgirl]

Where did you see the eclipse from Dschur ?

[Dschur]

Where did you see the eclipse from Dschur ?

Wahweap Overlook on the north side of the dam...

[azbackpackr]

I went to El Malpais National Conservation Area in New Mexico, closer for me, to the Sandstone Bluffs. A guy had 2 telescopes set up. A lady gave me a pair of eclipse glasses. I had a great time.

On the way there I got to be a trail angel! I saw a pair of CDT hikers, young women, along the roadway, and gave them water and shared my lunch. A few minutes later I stopped for a guy, and gave him some Ibuprofen. The hikers bypass the actual CDT there because its location is very difficult.