Toadstock the final chapter?
I started looking for a venue to view my very first total eclipse of the sun about a year ago when I discovered that the August 21 2017 eclipse path of totality was within easy driving distance from Sturgis South Dakota. the first place I considered was Elkhorn Springs Campground in the Casper Mountain County Park. I couldn’t find any information on whether the campground took reservations and I did not want to leave anything to chance if I could help it.
I don’t remember exactly how I found it but one day I stumbled on the “Toadstock” site, about two hundred miles from home, $50.00 bought me a four day pass that included camping and three nights of live music.
I arrived Friday afternoon to a mostly deserted pasture seven miles west of Alliance Nebraska and picked a campsite in the southeast corner and set up camp Charlie.
I came prepared, I found some polycarbonate welders lenses and fashioned solar filters for my binoculars and two cameras for under $30.
Crescent Moon and Venus at sunrise Saturday Morning
Sunday morning, let the day begin.
Monday, Eclipse Day
I woke up before dawn and I could not see the lights of Alliance on the horizon because a pea soup fog had dropped visibility to under one mile. There was a dense fog advisory for the area and this was the first day that I couldn’t watch the sunrise. About seven o’clock the sun started to burn off the fog.
Lat.: 42.1145° N, Long.: 103.0118° W
Total Solar Eclipse
Duration of Totality: 2m30.4s
Magnitude: 1.014
Obscuration: 100.00%
| Event | Date | Time | Alt | Azi |
| Start of partial eclipse (C1) : | 2017/08/21 | 10:26:55.1 | 45.9° | 122.2° |
| Start of total eclipse (C2) : | 2017/08/21 | 11:48:57.0 | 56.5° | 149.7° |
| Maximum eclipse : | 2017/08/21 | 11:50:12.1 | 56.6° | 150.2° |
| End of total eclipse (C3) : | 2017/08/21 | 11:51:27.4 | 56.7° | 150.7° |
| End of partia eclipse (C4) : | 2017/08/21 | 13:16:26.5 | 59.4° | 190.3° |
Camp Charlie is the red, yellow and blue blur in the lower right corner of the aerial shot.
