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East Oregonian
Where (and how) to view the
solar eclipse in Eastern Oregon
By TIM TRAINOR
East Oregonian
Oregon is blessed that a total solar eclipse
is slicing across the state this August. The path
of totality — where the moon and sun will
perfectly align for minutes, the former blocking
out the latter — looks like a belt snugly securing
its midsection from west to east.
In Eastern Oregon that belt crosses over
Baker City, Fossil, John Day, Ontario, Prairie
City and Seneca, as well as countless other farm
fields and timbered hills and sagebrush flats.
A total eclipse crossing America from coast
to coast has not happened in a century, so it will
likely draw quite a crowd from places not lucky
enough to fall within the belt. Travel Oregon is
expecting a million visitors to descend on this
state alone.
Almost two-thirds of all Americans live
within 500 miles of the totality zone, and many
will make that drive. Emergency responders
are expecting that if just two percent do, it will
cause the largest traffic jam in American history.
Kelly Beatty, editor of astronomy magazine
Sky & Telescope, described recently on NPR
what the eclipse will look and feel like: “Where
the sun was, there is a black bullet hole in the
sky. You see the sun’s feathery corona, its atmo-
sphere. Who knew the sun had an atmosphere,
like electric white cotton candy? The sky
gets dark. Stars come out. It gets colder. It’s a
multi-sensory extravaganza.”
Beatty has flown across the world to witness
them, so you can bet that people will drive a
few hours or more to squeeze into the path of
totality and bear witness. And Eastern Oregon
will prove especially popular, due to its often
clear skies, empty spaces and lack of viewshed
obstructions. Should locals beat the crowds or
join them? Here are some ideas on how to spend
the day.
———
Stay home, stay safe, save money
What: Staying outside the totality zone and
sleeping in your own bed
Where: All of Umatilla and Morrow coun-
ties
Perhaps fighting all the traffic, jockeying
for camping space or paying out the wazoo
for a plot of land to park your RV sounds like
a stressful trip and a waste of time and money.
Nothing is simpler than taking a long lunch
break and watching the partial eclipse from your
back porch in Umatilla or Morrow counties. In
Pendleton, the eclipse will hit about 95 percent
of totality, and a little less than that in Hermiston.
While that sounds like a big number, the
difference between 95 percent and 100 percent
will be dramatic. The world around you will not
become dark as night, stars won’t come out and
birds likely won’t roost. In fact, if you’re not
looking at the sun or aware of the commotion,
you may not notice the slow dimming of the
sky that will increase incrementally over the
course of hours. Also, you won’t be able to look
directly at the sun without the use of protective
lenses.
And by staying in town, you won’t be able
to avoid all of eclipse-seeker congestion either.
The interstates will be clogged across the
region, supermarkets and gas stations will have
long lines, restaurants will be overwhelmed.
It may take much longer than usual to drive
70 miles or so south, but the experience will be
vastly better there than in much of Umatilla and
Morrow counties.
———
Splurge on top-notch arts and science
What: Atlas Obscura’s Total Eclipse festival
of science, music and celestial wonder
Where: Roughly 30 miles east of Baker
City in the Burnt River Valley
Cosmos-inspired jazz of the Sun Ra Arkestra
should be enough to entice anyone to spend
time in an field in the Burnt River Valley while
the moon and sun become one.
Add to the music the director of outreach
for Columbia University’s Department of
Astronomy, editors and writers from The
Atlantic, Scientific American, Atlas Obscura
and the organizations National Parks at Night
and Science Friday, and you’re bound to get
a remarkable explanation of what you’re
witnessing and cogent analysis of the celestial
forces at play in our solar system and our lives.
You will pay for the pleasure, however. The
Atlas Obscura bash has a general admission
ticket starting at $250. That ticket allows you to
bring your own camping equipment and set up
camp on a private, irrigated meadow. There are
more luxurious “glamping” options available,
EO Media Group photo by Rylan Boggs
The view from the peak of Strawberry Mountain in Grant County, one of five spots
to watch the solar eclipse on Aug. 21.
too — a deluxe tent cabin for two people and
two nights will set you back a cool $1,500.
According to organizers, everything you need
will be on site: food and water, bathroom facili-
ties, medics and a general store.
For a once-in-a-lifetime event, surrounded by
people who can help explain it and express how
it makes you feel, it very well could be worth
letting someone else take care of the essentials,
allowing you to keep your eye on the sky.
Pay-to-sleep-in-your-own-tent options abound
across Eastern Oregon with similar prices, and
nowhere near the high-class amenities.
———
Get wild, get free
What: Backcountry camping, hiking
Where: Atop the 9,038-foot summit of
Strawberry Mountain
Go early, beat the crowds and disappear into
a wilderness area well before Eastern Oregon’s
highways and byways begin to fill with vehi-
cles. The Strawberry Mountains, located near
Prairie City, are a rarely-visited, forested range
with trails that bisect high mountain lakes and
rugged, beautiful country.
Don’t expect to have it to yourself this
August, when the eclipse passes almost directly
overhead. But a taxing hike will discourage
many drive-down-for-the-day eclipse seekers.
And the top of Strawberry Mountain — the
highest point in the range — is smack dab in the
middle of the path of totality. It will offer one of
the most unadulterated views of the eclipse in
Oregon, and maybe the entire country. Nothing
will distract the eye from horizon to horizon —
a sunset in every direction as the moment of
totality comes near.
The shortest way to the peak is 3.6 miles,
if you park at the trailhead at the end of Forest
Service Road 1640. Most hikers travel from
Strawberry Campground, where the trek
to the top is 6.5 miles. Another route is via
Onion Creek, a distance of about 4.9 miles.
Consult maps and pack plenty of water, and
plan to arrive and leave days before and after
the eclipse in order to beat the crowds that will
surely fill those small, dusty forest roads on
eclipse day. The Forest Service is expecting the
road corridor to Strawberry Campground to be
especially congested, and parking lots will be
overflowing at every trailhead.
——
The best view under the biggest sky
What: Oregon Star Party
Where: Indian Trail Spring outside Mitchell
Every year, professional and amateur
astronomers from across the country gather in
the Ochoco National Forest outside Mitchell
for the Oregon Star Party. They choose the
remote location because of its dark skies and
unobstructed 360-degree horizon view.
But what makes the 5,000-foot butte perfect
for viewing the dark night sky also makes it
perfect for viewing the total solar eclipse, and
2017 is expected to be an absolute banner year
for the annual event. The totality there will
last for almost a minute and a half and — if
we’re lucky enough for a clear blue Oregon
day — the experience will be amazing. The
surrounding sunsets will give way to totality,
when the sun’s corona will be visible and
the planets of Venus, Mars and Mercury will
temporarily appear in the gathering dark.
According to Star Party organizers, producers
of the IMAX film “Einstein’s Incredible
Universe” are planning to send a team to film
the incredible experience.
The bad news is that reservations are full up
for the Star Party itself — meaning there are
no more parking permits or RV spots. But the
Ochoco is a national forest, and plenty of space
nearby is available free and on a first-come,
first-served basis.
Forest roads in the area will be plenty
busy. A large music festival is taking place
on Big Summit Prairie, which is expected to
draw thousands to the forest all weekend. But
approaching from the east, jumping on the
Summit Road from, say, Forest Road 12 near
Antone, you may find place to get a car off the
road and a meadow to camp in and watch the
unparalleled show.
But the same advice remains — go early,
stay late, don’t fight the crowds.
———
Just jump in the car and go
What: Finding a pullout or a parking lot in
the totality zone
Many people were not lucky enough to
reserve a campsite in the totality zone, are
unable to shell out big bucks for a private event
and cannot get a few days off work to allow
them to beat the majority of the crowds.
But that does not mean those people are out
of luck. If you wake up early on August 21,
everyone in Eastern Oregon is close enough to
be able to get into the totality zone by showtime
— perhaps. But how best to do it safely and on
time, and avoid the hassle that often accompa-
nies overwhelming crowds?
Interstate 84 may be the best option, heading
east toward Baker City. There are multiple
public watch parties in Baker County that you
could crash, including at Farewell Bend State
Park, Anthony Lakes Mountain Resort, the
Oregon Trail Interpretive Center and Sumpter
Valley Dredge State Park. You could also just
get off the highway in downtown Baker City,
try to find an out-of-the-way place, put the tail-
gate down and look up. That may offer you the
best chance of getting back on the road and over
Cabbage Hill before the mass of people beats a
retreat to where they came from.
There are other options for going south,
however. From Pendleton you could head down
Highway 395 toward John Day, which offers
lots of opportunities to leave the highway into
the surrounding hills within the totality zone.
From Heppner you could travel on Highway
207 to Spray and Kimberly, where the small
towns are prepping public space for paid
camping and trying to attract visitors.
There are some serious unknowns when it
comes to the ability to travel on the morning of
the eclipse, and those unknowns are magnified
in small towns and two-lane highways. Will it
be able to handle the additional traffic, or will
infrastructure be overwhelmed? No one is quite
sure at this point — it could be a perfect spot off
the radar of many eclipse seekers. Or you could
find yourself stuck on Highway 207 behind a
dozen out-of-gas out-of-staters, trying to find
the sun through the sunroof.
There’s a lot of risk when it comes to trav-
eling the day of the eclipse. It will work out for
some, but likely not for many others. You’ll have
to ask yourself if that’s a risk you’re willing to
take. We wouldn’t recommend it.
ROADS: Rep. Barreto didn’t support bill, didn’t get earmarks
Continued from 1A
among other changes.
Bob Patterson, Pendleton
public works director, said two
other projects are eligible for
state money: a Southwest Perkins
Avenue extension from South-
west 18th Street to Tutuilla Road
and a Northwest King Avenue
extension from Northwest Horn
Avenue to Northgate. Patterson
said both projects would have
opened up room for housing
development.
Turner noted that House
District 58 — which includes
Pendleton, Union County and
Wallowa County — received
no earmarks while neighboring
District 57 — which includes
Hermiston, Milton-Freewater and
Morrow County — secured more
than $32 million for road projects.
Turner, who lost to Barreto
in the 2014 Republican primary,
said Barreto didn’t have any
leverage to include projects from
his district to the package because
he voted against the bill.
In an interview Friday, Barreto
admitted that’s the way the game
is played in Salem.
Barreto said the Legislature’s
joint transportation committee
required support for the bill from
the start in order to include proj-
ects from the legislators’ home
districts in the package.
With important aspects of the
bill like the gas tax rate “constantly
morphing,” Barreto withheld his
support and ultimately voted no.
“They didn’t need my vote and
I didn’t give it to them,” he said.
Although local politicians in
his district may have liked the
transportation bill, Barreto said
many constituents didn’t support
the higher gas taxes and vehicle
registration fees included in the
bill.
Hansell, whose senate district
encompasses both House districts
in northeast Oregon, said he
wasn’t involved in developing
the bill, though he voted in favor
because of the money it brought
to parts of his district.
District 57 is represented by
another Republican, Greg Smith
of Heppner, who sat on the trans-
portation committee and voted
for the bill.
Smith said he fought hard to
include earmarks for projects in
Hermiston, Milton-Freewater and
Morrow County in the legislation.
“There are some legislators in
the building who aren’t so pleased
that so many dollars are going to
my district, but I thought it was
the right thing to do,” he said.
Smith said the package
provided funding for projects that
would spur economic develop-
ment and growth in the region.
Those who helped craft the
bill wielded more influence when
projects were being added to the
package, he said. It also helped
that Smith is a senior member of
the Legislature.
Both Smith and Barreto liked
that cities and counties were
getting more for road maintenance.
According to leaders on the
transportation committee, over
the next decade Pendleton will see
an average increase of $426,000
per year for road improvements.
Hermiston will get an additional
$448,000 per year.
Although any money for main-
tenance is helpful in a city with
an aging street system, Patterson
said the increase only meets about
one-sixth of Pendleton’s needs.
That means the Pendleton city
government will continue to look
for local solutions to cover their
transportation needs. Another
idea being discussed by the city is
putting a local gas tax measure on
the ballot again. A 5-cent gas tax
ballot measure was resoundingly
rejected by voters in 2015.
Patterson said one idea was
to propose a gas tax that would
decrease each time the state or
federal government increased
their own gas taxes.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com or
541-966-0836.
Saturday, July 8, 2017
ECLIPSE: ODOT trains
to push vehicles off road
Continued from 1A
crews are getting trained on how to move
those vehicles to a safer spot to keep
traffic moving,” he said. But if roads are
clogged, it will take road crews awhile to
reach the scene.
While no one has firm numbers for
how many people are coming to Oregon
to see the first total solar eclipse in the
state in 38 years, the Oregon Office of
Emergency Management is planning on
at least a million visitors. Strandberg said
the transportation department is working
on getting a “ballpark estimate of how
many visitors are in an area.”
Permanent recorders on select sections
of highways 26 and 395 allow the
department to collect traffic data, he said.
ODOT is using those recorders to see how
many vehicles are entering and leaving
eclipse viewing areas in Grant County, for
example, to generate rough estimates of
how many vehicles remain in the vicinity.
Strandberg also said the agency is beefing
up its Trip Check website to show the pace
of traffic through the rural highways.
“We’re trying to implement that before
the eclipse, that’s the plan,” he said.
And the state is shutting down highway
construction projects through the area
starting the weekend before the eclipse
through midnight Tuesday, Aug. 22, the
day after.
ODOT’s motto for the event is “arrive
early, stay put and leave late.”
“People coming the day of might be
stuck in traffic jams,” Strandberg said,
and a mass exodus the moment it ends
will cause the same result.
He also said visitors need to come
prepared.
“We expect gas stations to run out of
gas, grocery stores to run out of food,” he
said, and rest areas and restaurants to be
full. “It’s quite an unusual situation, but
we think it’s manageable.”
He warned drivers not to rely on GPS
directions for rerouting around turtle-
speed traffic. Strandberg said that would
mean traveling over U.S. Forest Service
roads and rough terrain. Not knowing
those routes or having the right vehicle
could mean trouble.
“People need to stay on the main
highways,” he said. “That might be a long
delay, but if you are on a forest road ... you
might be stuck a lot longer.”
Umatilla County is not in the path of
totality, but county emergency manager
Tom Roberts said gaggles of tourists
could end up here.
“We anticipate that the Hermis-
ton-Pendleton area could be an overflow
area for the folks who could not get a
room or the space to park,” he said.
The county, he said, is in a better posi-
tion than some to deal with tourists. The
eclipse cuts its swath across the state after
the Umatilla County Fair and before the
Pendleton Round-Up. Those events have
given local emergency services crucial
experience dealing with big crowds.
Emergency planning for the possible
rush continues, he said, with the sheriff’s
office, local fire department and quick
response teams considering if they should
pre-stage resources along Highway 395,
which spans the county north to south.
And he’s working with the Umatilla
Morrow Radio and Data District to ensure
better communication capabilities in
remote areas.
Roberts also said the Oregon Office
of Emergency Management is treating
the eclipse as a real-world opportunity
to prepare for the Cascadia earthquake.
During that catastrophe, people from the
western side of the state are coming to
Eastern Oregon. And the influx of eclipse
tourists mimics that. Emergency officials
plan to have an “after action review,”
Roberts said, when they will weigh in on
“what we think went right and what we
think we can improve upon,” and apply
those lessons to planning for Cascadia.
Roberts also flies the county’s emer-
gency drone, which has been helpful
during recent search and rescue missions
and fires. Barring any emergency the day
of the eclipse, he said it might be worth
zipping the device into darkened skies and
snapping a few photos.
After all, he said, this is a once in a
lifetime event for many.
Local school districts consider the
celestial spectacle a moneymaking oppor-
tunity. The Huntington School District off
Interstate 84 in Baker County is offering
20-foot by 20-foot campsites for $300 for
three nights. And the Prairie City School
District on Highway 26 in Grant County
has 212 spaces its offering for three nights
for $150.
Prairie City superintendent Julie
Gurczynski said the district has sold 45
sites, so there are spaces left. The proceeds
first cover the costs of portable toilets and
clean-up, she said, then go to teachers for
classroom supplies, field trips and other
items that are outside the district’s budget.
The district’s FFA and sports teams are
serving dinner Sunday night and lunch
Monday, and those revenues will help
those organizations.
The district has 150 students in K-12.
Gurczynski said the school board encour-
aged her to do as much as she could with
the eclipse. The event will bring in money
that helps with district fundraising, she
said, and maybe put some in the bank.
She also said the community is nervous
about how many people might come and
the chaos that could bring, but locals are
excited for visitors and the eclipse itself.
District staff start back to work the day of
the event, but Gurczynski said she plans
on closing the office 9 a.m. to noon so she
and employees can take experience when
morning turns to night.