Early last evening all power was lost in the Rex House District Office area where we are parked. After starting the generator I check the breakers in the house and all was good. Joyce got in the Gator and drove down to see if she could find what was causing the problem. She found that a young fellow hit one of the power poles knocking it over. He then ran away leaving his car in the middle of the road. A sheriff deputy and the power company were on scene and the officer caught the driver in our day use area. Alcohol/drugs seemed to be a factor.
Joyce and I along with Stan and Linda spent a couple of hours escorting guests out of the area using some back roads through some private property.
We ran our generator since it was still hot and went to bed. About 12:30 AM I woke up and our power was back on so I switched to external power. It’s really nice having the generator at times like that.
Some of the smoke has dissipated so the views are much better.
August 13, 2017
It has been very smokey here in the Terrebonne area due to the many fires that are burning near us. There is a major forest fire out near Mount Jefferson that has been causing a lot of the smoke. To top that off there are a couple more burning up near Madras and Warm Springs where most of the tanker support has been headed each day. Those the one at Warm Springs has actually caused some loss of homes.
How is this smoke going to affect the solar eclipse on the 21st? Not sure but you can bet will impact all of the festivities in the area.
Speaking of the solar eclipse. The staff here at Smith Rock are in full preparation mode for the additional amount of visitors that are expected. We have a very good plan that will be put in effect starting next Thursday which includes additional staffing, professional security personnel, medical technicians on site and much more. Of course we know that even the best plans will not cover everything that might happen, but like the Park Manager says, “If we don’t have a fire or a death we will have successful event”.
Stan and I helped Steve Leigh wrangle up these tow guys, moving them away from the foot bridge area in the canyon.
This Sunday evening the park is putting on a supper for all of the additional folks that are that will be here for the solar eclipse. Yesterday Joyce and I went to Bend to do the shopping for that event. Costco was a packed with people and the traffic in town has increased dramatically.
August 24, 2017
Well, the 2017 Solar Eclipse had come and gone and we all survived.
On Friday the 18th we had a pow-wow with all of the park staff, hosts, Oregon Rescue (emergency rescue and medical assistance if needed), Security Pros (security patrol, manning the barricades, etc) and other volunteers. Scott, our Park Manager wanted to make sure everyone knew everyone’s responsibilities and that we were all on the same page. After the meeting Ranger Josie taught an abbreviated course in Verbal Judo.
We also started putting up temporary signage in the park, marking off the temporary camping sites and all of the other numerous tasks that needed to be done.
Saturday and Sunday was more of the same plus we were slammed with visitors. Sunday was the first time we have actually seen the park closed to vehicle traffic in our 10 years hosting at Smith Rock. We had 485 vehicles parked plus a lot more parked out on Wilcox Road. Amazing!
Sunday night the security folks put up barricades at the entrance to the park to prevent people coming in and sleeping in their vehicles. Scott had asked Joyce, Stan, Linda and I to be out early on Monday morning to help get everyone parked.
Joyce and I were out at 4:30 AM and the first place we went was to see what was happening down at the park entrance. There were cars lined up on both sides of Wilcox and a lot more just driving around trying to position themselves to get in first. Then at 5:30 the gates were opened and we filled up all 485 parking sites by 7:10 when we closed the park to vehicle traffic. The final count was the 485 in the park and another 420-450 out on Wilcox.
How about the eclipse itself? Well, it’s hard to put into words a awe inspiring it was. it never got real dark, more like twilight but we had a sunset all around us and the temperature dropped dramatically. There were about 1700 folks that crossed the footbridge in the canyon and a lot of those were on the top of Misery Ridge. There was also numerous folks on top of the Marsupials Group and they were all yelling and clapping like crazy.
Joyce and I feel that just to witness the event live was a privilege, even with all the work during and leading up to the event. Check! Another bucket list item gone.
Sunset on 20 Aug.
The temporary camping area in our RV lot.
Supper for staff and volunteers on 20 Aug.
Stan, Linda, Joyce and I gettin' our eclipse game on.
Misery Ridge
Wow.
I wish I had taken this picture. This is the money shot!
The story behind the photo: http://www.oregonlive.com/eclipse/2017/08/the_story_behind_viral_iconic.html
Barry & Joyce
