I drove up near Laramie Peak in the Medicine Bow National Forest to view the total solar eclipse. This national forest area offers a large area for dispersed camping so it was very popular with eclipse watchers. It was fun to experience the event with thousands of other campers. I also hiked most of Laramie Peak which was a good hike. We had a beautiful clear day to view the eclipse. I had never experienced a total eclipse before so it was an amazing event.
To shoot the eclipse, I used a Canon 100-400 lens. I set my ISO at 800 and f-stop at 7.1. I took shots about every 10 minutes. I bracketed my exposures by setting auto bracketing to 5 steps (-2, -1, 0, +1, +2). When totality hit, it was a crazy scene. People started cheering as it got dark. I shot a wide angle exposure of the area around the peak and then as I was taking the solar filter off of my zoom the sun came back out. So I missed the shot of totality. Oh well. 90 seconds goes by faster than you think. It was still amazing to see.
Then the world’s largest traffic jam happened. I waited 4 hours just to get out of Glendo. Maybe the DOT should’ve opened north and southbound lanes to go south. It took 6 hours to drive back to Denver. Truly mind boggling to think more people came out to watch an eclipse than for any rock concert or sporting event.
Solar eclipse begins over Laramie Peak, WY
Solar eclipse close to totality near Laramie Peak, WY
Solar eclipse close to totality near Laramie Peak, WY
Solar eclipse close to totality near Laramie Peak, WY
Solar eclipse just after totality near Laramie Peak, WY
The growing solar eclipse darkens the skies around Laramie Peak in the Medicine Bow National Forest in Wyoming.
Laramie Peak view at eclipse totality, Medicine Bow National Forest, WY.
Easterbrook Church with Laramie Peak in the background, Medicine Bow National Forest, WY
