We made the long drive from Alaska to eastern Idaho in large part to see the total solar eclipse. It was well worth it. We all considered it an amazing experience.
We also did plenty of visiting and sightseeing. Hope you enjoy the photos. I did not do a lot of captioning, so feel free to ask if you see something you would like to know more about.
The drive down
The first three and a half days were blissful… clear air and wild and scenic country.
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- Watson Lake campground
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- Watson Lake campground
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- Watson Lake campground
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- Watson Lake campground
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- Watson Lake campground
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- Bison along the Alaska Highway
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- road construction along Muncho Lake
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- Stone Mt area on Alaska Highway
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- Stone Mt area on Alaska Highway
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- Stone Mt area on Alaska Highway
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- Stone Mt area on Alaska Highway
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- Bucking Horse River campground
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- Bucking Horse River campground
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- Bucking Horse River campground
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- Bucking Horse River campground
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- Bucking Horse River campground
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- Peace River overlook near Hudson’s Hope, BC
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- Purden Lake Provincial Park capmground east of Prince George, BC
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- Purden Lake Provincial Park capmground east of Prince George, BC
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- Clearwater, BC
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- Clearwater, BC
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- Wells Gray Provincial Park, BC
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- Wells Gray Provincial Park, BC
Smoky days
The southern half of BC was choked in smoke from wildfires. We had to detour east a ways since the main highway was closed near Williams Lake, BC. Seattle was even getting a taste of the smoke along with a day or two of heat approaching 100F (38C) (Hit 96F/36C at SETAC, etc, thankfully it’s much cooler at Hall’s Lake.) Nevertheless we had some good times at Halls Lake, Whidbey Island and Port Angeles.
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- Hope, BC
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- Hope, BC
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- map showing wildfire locations
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- satellite image of wildfire smoke
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- satellite image of wildfire smoke
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- Hall’s Lake WA
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- Hall’s Lake WA
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- Hall’s Lake WA
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- Hall’s Lake
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- The old telescope tube Dan & Jim made headed to the dump with other stuff
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- Whidbey Island, Fort Casey
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- Whidbey Island, Fort Casey
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- Ferry to Port Townsend, WA
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- 4 Seasons community in Port Angeles
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- 4 Seasons community in Port Angeles, inside the barn
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- 4 Seasons community in Port Angeles
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- Port Angeles
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- 4 Seasons, blackberries starting to ripen.
South to Vancouver, then East to Idaho
After the visit with Lora and Tom, we saw Dan & Teresa in Vancouver, our friends Jim & Carol in Caldwell, ID, and Shannon’s brother Brett & sister-in-law Jennifer and kids in Kuna, ID (Shan’s stepdad was there too).
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- Olympia, WA
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- Olympia, WA
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- One of the waterfalls along the Columbia River gorge
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- Haines, OR
As the eclipse day neared we convened at Bill’s place outside Fairfield and were joined by Tom & Lora. Bill, Lydia and myself (Jim) took a hike across the creek to stretch our legs and check out the cloud seeding tower on the hill.
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- Bill’s place near Fairfield, ID
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- Bill’s place near Fairfield, ID
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- Bill’s place near Fairfield, ID
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- Bill’s place near Fairfield, ID
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- Bill’s place near Fairfield, ID
The eclipse
When eclipse day arrived, we got up at the crack of dawn and drove east, then north, about 2-3 hours total and found a nice spot off the beaten path. It was hazy but that does not matter for a solar eclipse.
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- Crater’s of the Moon National Monument
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- at our eclipse viewing spot in Eastern ID near Leslie
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- at our eclipse viewing spot in Eastern ID near Leslie
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- at our eclipse viewing spot in Eastern ID near Leslie
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- at our eclipse viewing spot in Eastern ID near Leslie
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- at our eclipse viewing spot in Eastern ID near Leslie
The drive home
On the way home we stopped in Moscow for a visit to New St. Anthony’s college and spent the night at our friends David and Jinnie’s place in Post Falls. Then north back into Canada and finally Haines. About 5 weeks and 5,600 miles (9,000 km) altogether.
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- Buckinghorse River againound
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- Liard Hot Springs of course
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- A thunderstorm got us out of the springs after a good soak
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- Teslin, YT
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- Almost home. Haines Junction, YT, and some new snow on the mountains already!