2024 Total Solar Eclipse, Mark Twain National Forest

This is my third and (most likely) last total solar eclipse. 1999 in France and 2017 in Missouri being the first two. Ginger wanted a more open view of this eclipse, prompting me to find a small Farm Road in the Mark Twain National Forest, near the center track of the eclipse that offered clear views of the sky. Checking aerial views online, it looked like there were several likely spots along the road that had been used by RVs during the pandemic (when campgrounds closed).

My original plan had been to hike into Irish Wilderness, but Ginger wanted to keep the hiking distance short, and I wasn’t going to complain because we’d have to pack in all our water (several gallons), as there would be three of us. Ginger and Lanie, sharing the Duplex tent, and me in my hammock. I did offer Lanie my spare hammock, but (for now) she says she prefers to remain a ground dweller so that critters cannot walk underneath where she is sleeping.

To avoid traffic, we decided to set off on Saturday, spend two nights in the forest, ready for the eclipse on Monday.

We drove up and down the farm road checking out places to park before deciding on the first one we passed ¯\(ツ)/¯ I dubbed the place “Pottyville” due to the various abandoned commode seats that had been left behind, presumably when all the RV-ers decamped back to the regular campgrounds.

We bushwhacked about half a mile from the road into the forest and set up camp.

Saturday and Sunday were overcast, with a fair bit of wind — too much Saturday night to let us have a campfire — and even a short pattering of rain at one point. Sunday night the wind eased off, and Lanie kept my Firebox Nano woodstove going all evening.

Monday was forecast to be clear with some slight high-level cloud, nothing to worry about.