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Total Solar Eclipse Trip August 16-25, 2017
Two minutes isn't long enough when you are running around fumbling with photo equipment. I managed to switch to an unfiltered telephoto lens and get one good shot as the event was exiting totality
Asterisk is in the band of totality near Smith Ferry about 60 miles from Boise Idaho	At Smith Ferry I took a road over the bridge and into the mountains ($100 camp per day or total?)
Saturday When I came through Smith Ferry people were beginning to mass around the large meadows by the Payette River. There was a bridge over the river and after about 5 miles of dirt road I finally got off of private land. I was aiming to get back into the Boise National Forest but ended  up in Murray Saddle on Idaho State Endowment Land.
I put the circular polarizing filter from my telephoto lens on top of the one on my regular lens and tried to cross polarize them as best I could. I also set the ev to -5 to further cut down the light entering the camera. I wanted to do it to the telephoto but I couldn't get the filter from the regular lens off the 58 to 55 mm adapter. I had misjudged the point of totality and had wandered 100 feet or so from the camera on the tripod. The light faded very quickly and I had to run back to the camera. I snapped a couple pictures and realized I wouldn't need a filter on the telephoto lens. By the time I got the lens and mounted it the 2 minutes of totality was ending. I ended up with a nice picture including solar flares on the re emerging sun. (Top photo)
Total eclipse of the sun
I had wandered about 100 feet from my tripod and camera when I realized the light had started to really fade quickly. I had been monitoring it's progress by cross polarizing the lenses I had popped out of and old pair of polarized sunglasses but hadn't checked it for a while. It had taken about and hour since the moon first started to darken the upper right corner of the sun. I ran back to my camera, losing one sandal and kicking the other off along the way to  be able to run faster. After snapping a photo I decided I could probably get pictures with my telephoto lens without a filter. It was in the nearby Jeep but by the time I got it and mounted it on the camera I was able to get one shot before the sun was too bright for it to work. While grabbing the telephoto lens I was thinking if I needed to grab a flash light but I knew I didn't have time and I could still see in the very dim light. As the light faded it was towards the red side of the spectrum. When the eclipse left totality it was as if someone had just turned on an old fashioned fluorescent light. It was white and harsh and almost instant instead of working into it more gradually as it had as it faded. It felt like being in the spotlight. After a few seconds it began to return to normal sunlight which got brighter quickly. I had been too busy to notice but the temperature had dropped about fifteen degrees Fahrenheit almost  instantly as the light went out and all the birds and insects seemed to go silent. A woman I talked to said she was wearing a halter top and really noticed the temperature change and also said the birds flew one way an then the other. I assume at start and end of totality. I remained at my camp in the saddle while most the people in my area were on the mountain top with a good panoramic view. I planned on taking pictures of the eclipse not the darkened landscape which would just look like a low light shot. Besides there were other dogs on the summit and I didn't want the distraction.
The were two electronic facility areas on the summit ridge of Packer John Mountain
I took a 6 mile round trip hike on Sunday from my camp in Murray Saddle to the summit of  Packer John Mountain. There were a lot of people setting up camps or just checking out the area for Monday's eclipse. I ran into a guy I used to work with who is also from Ridgecrest. (971 miles to run into someone I haven't seen in 15 years or more) I also ran into the Mexican sheepherder and his horse and dog. He kept calling my dog Mya, Lobo and that  was about the extent of our conversation. Monday night after everyone had left I moved my camp a quarter mile or so into the shade. The sheep were pretty much close to my camps and the herder seemed to like to fire off a gun which really bothers my dog. Monday night after he fired a couple of shots I let her sleep in the Jeep (I didn't want him shooting the lobo)
Getting to the eclipse
California
Even after record snowfall by mid August the Eastern Escarpment of the Sierra are almost void of snow as viewed from near my first nights camp. Mazourka Rd outside Independence on US 395
Nevada
A wilderness boundary stopped me from getting farther above Ely Nevada at my second camp
Big Horn Sheep along the road in Nevada
Idaho
Anderson Dam Reservoir camp view (3rd nights camp)	Anderson Dam Reservoir Dam overflow (I need a skateboard or should have brought my bicycle)
Anderson Dam Reservoir was very popular on a Friday night. Ended up with a couple with a small dog not far from me. In the dark pirates tried to land at my site by boat. I had to turn a light on the persuade them to take their boat somewhere else. The was a lot of traffic on the dirt road along the one side of the lake.
Sawtooth Range (Idaho)
Locals from Mc Call convinced me I had to go to the Sawtooth Range and Sun Valley since I was so close.
A part of the Sawtooth Range (The rocky peaks above the tree line reminded me of a miniature high Sierra. The range stretches 43 miles and reaches an altitude of 10,751 feet) Mya and I took a three hour hike into the wilderness to Hell Roaring Lake. I had to fill out a simple wilderness permit at the trailhead on the honor system. A luxury California no longer seems to affords it's hikers.
Hell Roaring Lake (Finger of Fate right of center)	A fish catching contraption on the Salmon River
Unfortunately by the time I hiked the two or three miles to Hell Roaring Lake the sun was in the wrong position for good pictures. The next day the visibility was even worse because of a fire over in Oregon. The range also reminded me of much of the eastern Sierra with a sparse dry undergrowth. The area up the Payette River where I had seen the eclipse had a much lusher vegetation more typical of Northwestern California. People I had ran into on the rocky four wheel route into the trailhead had raved about the hike. I have taken much more scenic hikes but I did appreciate the route stayed in the forest  out of the sun and the view at the lake was rewarding even if not as good as it would have been with morning sun.
Dunderburg Peak
I had taken a route home that put me on US395 in Oregon so I could travel some of the road I hadn't seen before especially up around Susanville and Alturas. After six or seven hours of driving, I decided to let the final four hours wait until Friday. I camped about 9200' on the  Dunderburg Meadow Road where the temps were nice and cool. Friday morning I took the Jeep up to over 10,000' towards Kavanaugh Ridge  to find Mya a snow bank to roll in. She rolled in the snow and waded in the small lake but still got a bath when we got home.
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