Watching the Eclipse from Sylva North Carolina

The zone of totality for the August 21st solar eclipse passed through western North Carolina (go here to see an article about the eclipse in North Carolina) and I drove down to see some good friends and the eclipse.

I watched the total eclipse from Sylva, North Carolina (population 2,588),  the county seat of Jackson County. Thanks to an invite from some good friends who live about 30 miles away from Sylva, I enjoyed a long weekend with good friends. The capstone was driving to Sylva to watch the total eclipse of the sun on Monday, August 21st.

Sylva did a great job organizing a three-day eclipse festival. They had music on Friday and Saturday nights along with a moonlight fun run on Saturday night. On Sunday night there was a panel on the science of eclipses at a local community college. On Monday, eclipse day, Sylva’s solar eclipse event was held in Bridge Park, a downtown park, started at 11 AM with music. There were food trucks and a stage where a speaker talked about the eclipse at 1 PM. Parking was offsite at the nearby Jackson County Justice Complex with overflow parking across the street. There was a shuttle ($1 each way) from the Justice Center to Bridge Park, located about one-half mile away.

Shuttle Bus

My friends drove to Sylva, a 45 minute drive was over two hours because of heavy eclipse traffic. We each had our eclipse glasses, water, and a chair. We got to Bridge Park about 1:15. All the spots in front of the stage were taken, so we found a grassy spot with a good view of the sun.

We used our eclipse glasses to watch the moon move across the sun. Just before totality (at 2:36 PM EDT) the sky darkened and you could see colors on the horizon. When we saw nothing out of our glasses, we took our glasses off and saw the total eclipse. I feel like any words that I write to try to described the blackened sun with the corona are inadequate. With that in mind seeing the total eclipse was an incredible and awe inspiring experience, one that will stay with me. The best part was being a part of crowd where everyone cheered and clapped when the total eclipse occurred.

Sylva, NC

Bridge Park and Stage

In front of Bridge Park, Sylva NC

My friend summed it up when she spoke of the total eclipse: “that was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen in the sky.”

After totality a little boy said: “that was so cool.”

My friends and I knew that we all seen something special, that seeing a total eclipse was worth the traffic nightmare to and from Sylva. As I traveled back north on Monday and Tuesday through some horrendous traffic in Virginia, my traveling companion and I agreed that the eclipse was worth it.

Added on October 26, 2017: I wrote a final follow-up post on October 25, 2017 with some videos and links to photos, articles, and additional information about the eclipse.