My Eclipse Adventure

I have just returned from a two day adventure with the prickly warm feeling of sun kissed skin, a head full of beautiful pictures and memories and a heart that has been moved and expanded so many times in so many ways that I would say it’s sore if it also didn’t feel so big and good.

I’m going to cut right to the peak experience, the eclipse. We - me, Rob and a college friend who flew in from Baltimore - took a chairlift from Timberline Lodge at 6,200 ft up to an extraordinarily beautiful spot at about 8,000 ft on the south side of Mt. Hood. In one direction we had a sweeping look at Mt. Jefferson and the valley between us and behind us Mt. Hood’s 11,000 ft peak towered over us. To our sides were glaciers with skiers and snowboarders doing their thing, and above us an enormous wide open blue sky and a chairlift with skiers shouting exuberant friendly greetings to us along with whelps about what they were seeing. We arrived at 8am to get settled and at 8:50 am the sun and moon began to overlap.

the scene as we all settled in and waited for it all to happen

The experience of witnessing the full eclipse and the otherworldly shift of reality that occurred is something that is hard to find a way to share effectively. Neither photos nor words seem enough to show the breadth and depth of the reality but I am compelled to attempt it nevertheless.

the overlap begins

The embrace of sun and the moon itself was so pretty and every time I looked through the special glasses my heart moved. But what i didn’t expect was the extraordinary light and patterns on every object and the land surrounding us. This included people. During those 2 minutes that the sky was mostly dark, everything absolutely glowed! Everything was illuminated with a vitality and this bluish light that was surreal and poignant. The horizon in the distance looked like someone had taken a huge paint brush with purple, red, blue and grey pigment boldly striping it. We could see such a wide view that we could see where the timezone changed and the eclipse had already begun to end while it was still happening where we were!

not quite there yet

Never had any of us seen anything like this. We were all stunned and our hearts exploded with gratitude and excitement. All of a sudden the people surrounding us with whom we had all exchanged gentle friendly greetings to begin with were all gushing and gushing some more unabashedly reaching out to share experiences with shining eyes and open hearts as if we were each other’s family. It was all we could do to believe what was happening. We had all shared something life-changing that we will never forget and were permanently bonded. We all involuntarily acknowledged this with openhearted love and vulnerability over and over again telling and retelling our feelings and observations. I wish I had been possible to show this in photos but I knew the cameras we had couldn't capture what we were seeing and feeling so I decided to BE there rather than try.

about 15 min after totality people were starting to pack it up. the horizon still had a shadow of the color that had painted it earlier

The group of 200 or so dispersed soon after the totality occurred but we stayed along with our new kin for while. Eventually the three of us walked the mile back down to the lodge while the moon finished its crossing and the sun came to a full shine again. We chatted and continued to share all aspects of what this meant to us and periodically stopped to look at its progress. It was the perfect thing to do because after sitting for nearly 3 hours with extreme temperature changes, we were stiff and needed to move. Plus, the walk allowed us the time and catalyst to digest the intense experience we’d had together.

Beyond this highlight, the 2 day adventure was just about perfect and below is a series of photos to show a few moments. We arrived Sunday morning at dawn for a sunrise walk around Trillium Lake before heading up to Timberline Lodge for a hearty breakfast, some time chilling in at the lodge, a hike on the Pacific Crest trail to Zigzag Canyon followed by a therapeutic hot tub soak and swim. After the morning eclipse event, Monday afternoon we stopped for a quick visit to the turquoise jewel Little Crater Lake before driving back to Portland.

Trillium Lake at dawn

The cool damp just before the sun rose at Trillium Lake, about 40 degrees F

as the sun came up at Trillium Lake

after a long night of driving, no sleep, a freezing morning hike, we all were a little ragged, but not at all self-conscious since we were in good company with those hiking for months on end who stopped for a meal and a shower

a view from the Pacific Crest Trail

Indian Paintbrush on the trail

the top of Zigzag Canyon. the wind was LOUD here!

one of the many handmade details and reasons why I love Timberline Lodge

a stop Little Crater Lake on our way out

We ate well, soaked up as much beauty as a person can contain, and left with overflowing gratitude for the unfathomable good fortune we have to be alive in this magical world.

These times are so confusing, scary and polarizing and we found that while our hearts were twisted and bruised with that reality, they could simultaneously acknowledge and indulge in this magnificent world we inhabit. Somehow we found that we didn’t need to disassociate from one reality to experience the other; miraculously the heart and mind are vast enough to contain both.

Thanks for supporting my blog, some art posts coming later this week.

sunset over Mt. Jefferson our first night, the everyday view at Timberline Lodge!