2023 Annular Eclipse

(Partoun, West Desert) I took the day off of work and decided to camp in Utah's West Desert to see the annular eclipse. This is such a rare event and I didn't want work to get in the way of me just enjoying this. My colleague at KSL, Mark Wetzel and his dog Gertie, joined Timber and I. We had to work the day before, so we left the Salt Lake Valley at about 7pm and made it to Wendover by 9pm. It was dark by the time we got there and we still had about two hours of driving south into the desert. We went toward Gold Hill, then along the Pony Express Road to Callao, Trout Creek, and finally Partoun where I had permission to camp outside West Desert High School. I have done several stories for work at West Desert High School through the years and got to know the people out there well enough for them to trust me that I wasn't going to make a mess. Mark, maybe. 

I slept in the back of my Jeep with Timber. It was cold, but I had plenty of blankets and pillows. I love having a panoramic sunroof on my Jeep because I leave it open when I car camp so I can lie down and look up at the stars. You could see all the stars and even the Milky Way in this part of the state because it's so empty without any light pollution.

Mark is a tall dude and didn't fit in the back of his vehicle, so he had to set up a tent on the ground to be able to stretch out. We set up his tent and I think he was out in no time.

The morning of the 2023 Annular Eclipse, we got up because the dogs had to potty. It was cloudy and I was worried we wouldn't see the eclipse through the clouds. Mark suggested maybe we move to another spot where we could see sunlight hitting the mountains, but we decided to stay in our spot, thinking we had made our decision and were going to stick with it. I cooked some ground maple sausage for breakfast and we waited. The teachers at West Desert High School invited us to join them in front of the school. They had chairs and treats and a sense of excitement, so we joined them. Mark ate two of their brownie cupcake things, which I gave him crap for since I'm trying to lose weight and didn't eat any.

With about ten minutes until the eclipse, the clouds parted and gave us a clear view. It was amazing. We watched through our eclipse sunglasses as the moon centered perfectly in front of the sun, giving us a yellow ring of fire around a dark black dot. It didn't get dark, but the shadows looked very different. It only lasted about 4 and a half minutes but was well worth the effort it took to get to this spot. 

Mark shot some video of the people watching the eclipse with his news camera so some of that would air on our KSL TV newscasts that day, and then he took some time to watch the eclipse as well and eat his brownie things.

We spent some time eating lunch with the people, they showed us around the high school (Mark shot some baskets in their gym to relive his glory days but they locked him in there). Timber also stole one of their tennis balls, so I'll have to buy them a new can.

Overall, we had a great day watching the eclipse. It was a great event, a fun time camping, and we hung out and met fun people. If you ever make your way to Trout Creek and Partoun, just know where are good people out there who love their lifestyle. Mark, Gertie, Timber, and I will be forever grateful.