In The Line of Totality – The Solar Eclipse of 2017 at Hughes Mountain

Well we survived The Great Solar Eclipse of 2017 and I am thankful we were able to spend the day the way we wanted and not at school. Being school employees, I was a little bummed that Caroline and I were going to have to spend our time during the eclipse herding students around the school grounds and making sure they were wearing their protective eyewear correctly to avoid INSTANT BLINDNESS (according to some) which would result in IMMEDIATE LAWSUITS!  So when we got the call, that school was being called off that day for the eclipse, I immediately looked at Caroline and asked, “Well where is Lagom going to go?!?!”

Since we were already in the “totality zone,” it didn’t take us long to decide on Hughes Mountain near Irondale, MO.  It fit all of our needs:  close to home, short hike up since I was taking my kids, somewhat obscure from out-of-towners, a mountaintop clear of obstructions towards the sky, and magnificent views of the surrounding landscape.

Also, I couldn’t imagine any better place to take in a natural wonder like an eclipse, than at a place that is one of the world’s most natural wonders itself.  My family farm is less than 10 miles from Hughes Mountain, a natural conservation site that sits right outside of the little town of Irondale, which has a population of a whole 450 residents, and I never realized what a wonder we have in our own backyard!  

I’ve been up the mountain several times with my father, who actually grew up in Irondale, but like most children, never paid attention to what it was I was standing on.  According to the pamphlet I picked up at the bottom of the trail, Hughes Mountain is a combination of igneous glades and three types of forests.  It’s named after John Hughes who was the European settler to arrive in the area in 1810. The precambrian rock outcrops on Hughes Mountain are among the oldest (approximately 1.5 BILLION years) exposed rocks in the United States.  “Holy S***!  I was standing on rocks that were 1.5 billion years old!”  (It doesn’t say that in the pamphlet).  The rhyolite formation, known locally as the Devil’s Honeycomb, is one of Missouri’s geological wonders and is the highest point on Hughes Mountain.

Back to the our eclipse adventure.  For my family, the adventure started before we even got up the mountain.  For the last week, Tanner and August have done little more at school than learn about the solar eclipses.  It’s been evident that my boys paid close attention, as Tanner would repeat, verbatim, what it was we were going to experience including all the scientific terms related to the event and was our family’s eclipse guru.  And August…good ol’ August…was walking around this morning with a winter sock cap on his head, explaining to me how he needed to take that with him since the temperature was supposed to drop significantly once the sun was covered.  I had to explain to him, that just because it was supposed to get “cooler” did not mean we should prepare for the ICEPOCALYPSE!  I see a doomsday prepper in my future.

In typical Martinez Family fashion, we were running late, so Caroline beat us out to the parking lot of the mountain.  So I received the dreaded call, that we weren’t the first one’s there, and the parking lot was full!  I knew we wouldn’t be the only one’s out there, but I was hoping that our location choice would not be too popular of a place considering it’s kind of a hidden gem so to speak.  However, once we got parked (on the side of the main road), and hauled our goods up the mountain, we settled into what will be one of my most memorable moments ever!

That being said, we don’t typically hike in the heat of the middle of an August day in Missouri, and sit on top of a rock with little shade very often.  If it wasn’t for the eclipse, I wouldn’t recommend it  because it was HOT!!  Like sweat dripping out of every pore kind of hot, resulting in wet clothing and major swamp ass!  But since I’m a positive person, the plus side of the heat was that Enrique and a few others chose to go shirtless, which made it even HOTTER…if you know what I mean!  LOL

Our timing couldn’t have been more perfect.  We arrived at the top just as the eclipse was beginning.  While eating a selection of moon pies and drinking Capri Suns provided by Caroline, we enjoyed mingling with some of the other mountain guests, which included a couple from Texas, a man with some major high tech gear who said he worked in St. Louis for MDC -Missouri Department of Conservation  (after I asked him if he worked for NASA), and a woman who said she was a “natural biologist” for something to do with the Ozark Trail (not the part in our area).  Even though we were mingling a bit, Caroline included lol, August wasn’t as into the crowds and spent a lot of that time trying to build a fire with two sticks and a magnifying glass.  It was hotter than Hades, but remember, he thought it was going to get much colder.  

Even though we were a little worried about possible crowds, it turned into a positive. Caroline and I discussed that another reason our choice of location to watch this possible once-in-a-lifetime event was even more special, is because we got to watch it with others who were just as “into it” as we were.  These people were not satisfied by standing in their front yards to watch such a spectacular event.  Like us, they did some extra planning, and added a little more “adventure” to their eclipse gazing experience.  Looking back, I wish we would have gotten a group picture with the 200 or so people who chose to make the trip up that particular mountain.

As the afternoon continued, we would take glances at the sun every few minutes waiting, for the moment when it would be totally covered.  As the moon covered more of the sun, it did become darker, but not like we had expected.  It’s hard to explain to someone who wasn’t there, but it didn’t get completely dark but it was a different kind of “light” than one experiences at “dusk.”  It was almost like a vintage colored photograph.  You could see the color, but everything was “muted.”  The surrounding horizons (both east and west), took on a pink color, just like when the sun rises and sets.  Except today, the sun was still high over our heads.  It did get dark enough that you could see all the dusk to dawn lights turn on surrounding the mountain from the various homesteads.  Once we could take the glasses off, it was just amazing.  We didn’t hear any of the crickets chirping or hoot owls like some have reported, probably because of all the oohs and ahhhs and the occasional exclamations that included curse words (Enrique!!).  It lasted a little over 2 minutes, but it was a truly awe-inspiring 2 minutes of my life that I hope I get a chance to experience again.

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To see one worldly wonder in the sky, while standing on another, just made the experience even more special.  And then throw in that I got to do it with my family and best friend….priceless.

So we invite you to share where you were during The Great Eclipse of 2017!