The unpredictable weather often leads me to change my hiking plans. Along with a ton of other people, I was looking forward to the total eclipse that swept along a northeastward arc from Texas to Maine. The path of totality cut through the Adirondack Park, across a number of summits that have wonderful views of the sky and surroundings. My original plan was to hike a mountain in the northwest part of the Adirondack Park. I had considered Loon Lake Mountain, Lyon Mountain, and Jay Mountain as possible eclipse viewing spots.

And then, after a winter with relatively few snow storms, it snowed and it snowed. Starting in mid-March, it seemed like every week there was another snow storm dumping one to two feet of snow in the Adirondacks. The last snow storm was on April 4, a few days before the eclipse. My dream of spending the day on a bare, rocky summit basking in the spring sun was replaced by the nightmare of hiking through slush to stand shivering on a summit in the melting snow. 

As much as I love being on a mountain summit, my main goal was to enjoy viewing the eclipse. So I decided to make the wise decision to find a good /viewing area that did not require a hike. My web search for an eclipse viewing spot led me to discover that the west side of Lake Champlain is called the Adirondack Coast (https://www.goadirondack.com/), and a number of communities in this area had eclipse viewing events.

On the morning of April 8, joined by my adventure buddy, I headed north on I-87 with a plan to go to the town of Lyon Mountain, just west of Plattsburgh. As we exited the interstate at Plattsburgh and started heading west, we noticed clouds growing in the sky. In the rearview mirror the sky was clear. It was time to turn around and head east.

Back on I-87 we drove north a few more exits then got off the interstate and took the bridge to Vermont at Rouses Point. At every roadside parking area there were people setting up their eclipse viewing tailgate parties. We drove through the Missisquoi Wildlife Refuge, into the town of Swanton, and parked by the town square where there was a group of eclipse observers setting up their telescopes. After consulting the weather forecast and a road map, we decided to keep heading east where there was a lower chance of clouds during the afternoon.

We drove along beautiful Vermont farmland into the town of Enosburg, and again noticed people setting up to view the eclipse in the town square. While this looked like a lovely town, we still had a couple of hours before the eclipse would start so we kept driving. We drove northeast, following the line of totality to the town of Richford. This was near the point where the line of totality crossed into Canada, and had a good chance of a clear sky for the afternoon.

After driving a loop through the town we found Davis Park along the Missisquoi River. We parked the car up the road, grabbed our picnic food and chairs, and settled near the cute gazebo among the others who were gathering here to view the eclipse. It was a beautiful, warm day and we enjoyed sitting in the sun and eating our lunch while we waited for the show to start.

Slowly, the moon started to obscure the sun. We tried taking pictures through a filter made of the same material as our eclipse glasses, but our pictures only showed a big blob of bright sun.

We chatted with others nearby who were taking pictures with their phones and got the suggestion to use a fast shutter speed. After figuring out where this setting was on our Samsung phones, we were able to capture pictures of the eclipse, just in time for totality.

As I watched the sun reducing to a sliver of orange, I put my sweatshirt on due to the drop in temperature. And then, wow! The total eclipse began! Suddenly the sun changed into a ring of blue-white that I could view with my bare eyes. The sky overhead was dark, with orange light on the horizon in all directions. I could even see a planet glowing between the sun and the horizon.

Because we were on the center of the path of totality, we had around 3 minutes of totality. Viewing the total eclipse was an amazing experience and I feel grateful to have the opportunity to travel to a location where I had a wonderful view. As the period of totality neared a close, I captured a picture of the diamond ring effect. 

Now that I knew how to set a fast shutter speed, I was able to get pictures as the moon moved away from the sun. We packed up our chairs, brought them back to the car, then walked around the town as the eclipse ended.

Now it was time to head back home. The traffic was not bad as we drove west along the northern edge of Vermont, although I’m sure there was much more traffic than typical for this area. We followed the sun, now restored to its full glory, back over the bridge to New York.

With the hope that traffic on I-87 might decrease over time, we stopped in Plattsburgh for dinner and walked around town. The “No Snowboarding” sign in the park along the Saranac River was a distinct touch of northern New York.

Due to the large number of people who traveled to Northern New York to view the eclipse, we did get stuck in the traffic moving at a snail’s pace south on I-87. After a few hours of driving, we finally reached our exit and headed home.