In the picture below, Pepi takes in the crepuscular light of the solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, three days back in the Winds, on the panoramic and recently renamed 11,500-ft. Cosmic Knob of Total Totality, wondering why his master and David Stubbs are freaking out just because there’s an extra, very brief night on our camping trip.
I’ll never forget how the world turned jaundiced, slowly at first and then faster, before a sickly orange tidal wave of sunset swept over the range and stripped the day away, leaving a fiery black pearl in the sky.
Tiny cries of other awestruck humans, perched on other summits or gathered around lakes far below, rose from the gloom, and we too shouted our incredulity and jubilation, Pepi and David’s pup Maddie May barking at all the excitement. Gannett Peak and the other big boys on the continental divide glowed weirdly, flickered and relit, the jaundiced light flooding back as fast as the odd elation and sharpest memories of the event were already fading, and I wondered how the looting, riots, and gun-play were going back in Jackson. 11/10, highly recommended, let’s do this again.
Top image by Michael Mauer, bottom image by David Stubbs