powderfreak

Life has its ups and downs... you win some and lose some. However, the factors that lined up to make this possible were pretty incredible. This has been the wettest year, winter, whatever on record for some spots in New England. It has precipitated a lot, it's been murky, we are back into it for a few days right now up here. Its cloudy and damp right now, changing to cloudy and wet high elevation snow and valley rain showers over the weekend. It has been so wet. For so long. However for this rare cosmic event the universe gave us euphoric weather. Even without the eclipse, that sunshine and warmth (even in snow covered areas) would've been a banner day. Throw in totality during the peak awesomeness of the weather/afternoon. Mind-blowing. How did we get so lucky? It could've been 35F with dense fog and/or thick stratus with ease. The fact that it wasn't raining and instead was perfect weather during this unstoppable event, damn.

Very hard to tell… not a fat rabbit? Ha.

Moose would’ve knocked that post over if it walked past it that close. Definitely not moose by the snow in the middle of the print.

Ha, you’ve seemed to be finding reasons to meh this for a while, odd given how stoked you get for certain things. I am sure you can find people who had a rough time in traffic but read the thread, everyone is saying the same thing. I’m definitely traveling for another one.

Yeah thats a good point. Being mentally prepared for it is half the battle with traffic. I can't think of any other event where people are like "I just saw it and then waited in traffic for 10 hours... and I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat."

Yeah stay the next day is the best move but it’s funny to see the largest traffic jam in NNE history and the lack of people complaining about it. The only ones really struck by it were the people not in it .

It is interesting that so many people were just so awestruck that it didn’t matter. Love that. People like, yeah so what, that was the coolest thing I’ll ever see, etc.

Busted out the shorts for first time this year with the dog this evening. 68F felt glorious.

Windows and doors open.

We've been talking about it a lot today (obviously) but for me it was this cool vibe that nothing else in the world seemed to matter yesterday. Politics, money, worries, how much you hate your neighbor, etc... the entire lead up throughout the day was this universal knowledge that something wild was about to happen and the anticipation of it. Then when it happened, to have every single person and humanity as a larger collective just get their mind-blown, led to this feeling of togetherness that we don't often get these days. Everyone is so divided on every topic but this was one thing that humanity agreed upon for a day. I said it yesterday and I'll say it again, I really did not understand the profound awesomeness of it.

Great shot!

Love that lower left flare has been visible in photos no matter where they’ve been taken in totality.

I think for me it was that our relationship with the sun changed for a brief time. From the day we are born to when we die, the sun rises and stays there until it sets. It’s baked into our evolution and minds. This disrupted that cycle, with a shadow being cast during the peak heating time of day. Something about it got me.

This is what I wrote on social. I completely get why Gene was harping on totality for the past couple weeks. There was something about it that was a profound experience. Natural, no control over it, we as humans are just microscopic dust in a large universe. And collectively we just had our minds blown. "Totality. I now know that I did not appreciate exactly what that meant. Sure, I knew it would get dark, but the experience was so much more profound than that. I now understand why people travel for this and why totality is different than even 99%. This was an incredible day. The excitement, the anticipation and togetherness of humanity, knowing that a once-in-a-lifetime event was going to happen. Sharing that with fellow humans, on my favorite snow covered mountain with flawless weather. This will stay with me for life." We tried to describe it as such in the snow report opening lines... A momentous convergence of three cosmic titans, Earth and Sun split by the Moon. Today we were all on a cosmic odyssey in the path of totality and what a scene it was.

It’s happen by exactly as it was thought it would, ha. Two interstates in VT, both jacked up.

It wasn’t bad to my place but I was looking at the traffic maps and RT 100 south to Waterbury looked terrible. It shows red all the way to Moscow/Stowe. Then 89 is red southbound for as long as possible. I heard that Bolton backup was from an accident.

10 min later it’s moving.

I cannot believe the weather worked out for that. Like what are the chances. It could be raining or snowing with a ceiling of 2,000ft very easily.

Dude, that was insane. Just a cell phone shot. We’ll see what the camera got but I understand why folks say get to totality. 3 solid minutes of nighttime at 3:30pm. Stars out. I see what the hype was about.

Once in a lifetime experience. Hoo-lee-sheet. That was incredible.

Can start to see it now through the glasses.

We’ve got some very light high thin cirrus but I can’t imagine that mattering. Sky is still pretty blue through them.

This photo shows the vibe one gets being up there. Awesome. Nearly 3k verts. The Green Mtn Spine wall maxing out over Mansfield leads to some great snowfall, deep snowpack and big mountain terrain.

The eclipse tourists were rolling in fast today, and the vibe is fun. So many people out and about in town. Many outside, walking the Rec Path and sidewalks. Skiers, first time skiers in town for the eclipse, having fun. But cars everywhere. I’ll be honest, sometimes it’s a bit much and annoying while you are just trying to get through daily life. This has a different vibe. Like people know it’s not something that randomly happens. It’s an event that many won’t see again in their lives and they know it. The mood is cheerful, weather was 50s and sunshine, with melting snow on the ground next to greening grass. Optimism for a spring day mixed with a once-in-a-lifetime vibe. It’s going to be the largest party NNE has ever seen.

It’s 52F and sunny and snow in town is crying for mama. Just getting eviscerated. Still a few inches but feels like we’ve lost a foot in two days lol.