Eclipse (Summer Series- Part 2 of 4)

What is there to say about a total solar eclipse. I was not expecting it, and it is something you can only fully experience in person. The sight cannot be accurately captured on film, the feeling of the cooling atmosphere as solar radiation disappears behind Earth's only natural satellite. Absorbed across a minuscule astronomical distance, yet one that only a handful of humans have experienced.

You don't quite understand what sunlight is, or how valuable it feels until it is taken away by a celestial object in the middle of the day.

Our journey started only one day after our my return from Atlanta. Thinking back, it is quite silly how I flew back from Atlanta only to drive back to within 120 miles of the exact same city I was in two days before. But I had booked the plane trip through work (read, I didn't have to pay), and I had people who hadn't met before driving down together. I felt like I should have at least been there to facilitate first experiences.

A picture of the back deck of the house that I had rented for all of us. A sunbeam is gently shining through the top left corner, with the forest reflecting a morning awakening. I have lit a bug candle (it was mid August in South Carolina), and have my book "On Trails" (a philosophical examination of all things trails) on the table in front of me. And in classic Nick fashion: a cup of freshly brewed coffee on the right hand side of the table.

Being there was like being in paradise. The first day I had vowed to do absolutely nothing, and followed through with that promise. In addition to witnessing an extremely rare event, this was a vacation for me. My summer getaway. It was a chance to not worry about the rantings of DC and the heavy workload I was currently experiencing.

The day of the eclipse did eventually roll around, although it was not slated to happen until around 3 PM in the afternoon. The total time of the eclipse was 2 minutes, but the anticipation and built up was hours. We did end up going on a couple of food runs, and completing a couple of errands for the rest of the days we were going to be staying there.

All throughout the day the shadows started getting more and more crescent shaped. This effect happens when the light being blocked from the moon still needs to hit earth, so instead of a full blast of light, the "crescent light" ends up hitting objects, rendering the eclipse visible simply through the trees. Of course, we had solar shades as well so we could look at the moon as it passed over the sun.

Moon shadows through the trees and onto the deck.

More moon shadows.

A terrible shot of the moon over the sun, taken through the solar glasses I had.

When the eclipse came to its peak, the day started to wane. But from all directions. Sunsets have a point of origin. Eclipses come from three hundred and sixty degree views. The moon was just about to complete the eclipse when it happened. God dimmed the lights on earth, a simple slider taken from 70 percent to nearly the off position. And it was quick. Nothing gradual. The sky went from a hazy summer day to a cool spring sunset. The temperature had been falling ever so slightly, and about 30 seconds in, a cool breeze swept past us.

Crickets started chirping. Hawks came out to circle, their retinas sensing the time of day for the peak movement of their prey. In the distance coyotes howled, along with some of their human counterparts on the lake. One by one the planets and starts popped into our view. Gradually the eye shifted center, to recognize that our most important heavenly body, the provider of life on our planet, was completely obscured by the moon. All one could see was the blazing corona of the star, white, hot, in its unadulterated form, flowing from the edges of the lunar surface. Small red spots appeared, plumes of gas ejected from the surface. Flares. Flares seen with the naked eye. White wisps wafted around the blazing ring.


I stood, shaking at such a natural phenomenon. I could not believe that the laws of physics were perfectly aligned to provide passage through my own lens. The fact of the moon being the perfect size (at least for another couple million years) to block the sun from reaching the surface is amazing. Other planets are too far away, and transit the sun. Man made satellites are too small, and... transit the sun as well. The moon is simply the perfect size, and the perfect distance from the Earth, to create a total eclipse.

We did other things while we were in South Carolina. I took an entire cadre of friends. We drank, we watched wrestling, we cooked. In-jokes were made, there were paranormal experiences with a coyote (only the head was stuffed), and I got to catch up with and enjoy the woods with people I loved. And while we were only there for a couple of days. I arrived back in DC a changed person. Someone who had witnessed the beauty of nature in its most powerful form, renewed for the next adventure.

A bridge across one of the inlets of Lake Hartwell. The place we stayed was right on the lake, a perfect natural setting for watching the eclipse. In the photo the sun is setting behind some clouds, with pink and white rays filtering from an opening.

A mural in... Fredericksburg I think? We stopped before we got into DC to get local supplies.

The park in Fredericksburg where I hung out for a hot second after being in the car for 8 or 9 hours.