My daughter had her birthday earlier this week and had been really wanting to go camping somewhere. We had a rare opportunity this weekend to see the Annular Solar Eclipse near us, so we made some quick last minute plans to fly out to Escalante, Utah on Friday afternoon, camp overnight at the airport and then see the eclipse the next morning (and be back home Saturday afternoon).
She was able to pre-pack her camping stuff, and make some camping meals on the previous night. She also bought a couple of pairs of eclipse glasses. I couldn’t find the ones we had for watching the 2017 Eclipse.
We got to the airport and were in the air by 3:15pm. The flight out was going to be about 2 hours and 40 minutes, and we would be landing in Escalante just about sunset. We had camped at Escalante last year, so we knew that there shouldn’t be any problems finding a place to set up our tent. The pilot lounge has bathrooms and a shower, and the Recreational Aviation Foundation (RAF) has built a nice open air building near the campground with all you could need to camp comfortably. They have a large fire ring with lots of wood to burn, a picnic table, refrigerator, microwave and a sink.
We landed just after sunset after a nice smooth flight over the desert and Grand Canyon. We managed to get the last tie down spot on the ramp. There were already a number of other folks with the same idea set up and camping for the weekend. We tied down the airplane and unloaded everything, then got our tent set up just as it was getting dark.
There was a nice campfire going already and it kept us nice and warm. We put our food (foil packets of veggies, potatoes and sausage) in the coals, opened a bottle of wine and let the fire do the cooking. The food came out great. A definite throwback to my days camping with the Boy Scouts.
It got pretty cold that night, but we stayed warm with our sleeping bags and extra layers. My inflatable air mattress after multiple times of being patched up was back to leaking, so I ended up on the hard ground. I did take a couple of back up foam pads, so I wasn’t too uncomfortable.
The next morning I was up at 7am. I think it got down to 31F, so it was chilly. The couple that run the Pilot Lounge facilities had hot coffee and homemade scones for us to eat. After getting some breakfast and re-warming by the campfire, we waited for the eclipse to begin. It took about an hour for the moon to cover the sun. We were definitely in the area of totality. The sunlight began to dim noticeably and looking through the eclipse glasses was the only way to really see that the eclipse was happening. It never got completely dark like the total solar eclipse I saw in 2017, but the temperature definitely dropped a bit.
After the eclipse was over, we got the airplane packed and took off towards Page, AZ. In less than 30 minutes we were getting topped off with fuel in Page, and headed to a local restaurant there to get lunch using the courtesy car from the FBO. The restaurant was quite busy. There had been a half-marathon race that morning (along with the eclipse), so the place was packed.
Back at the airport, we paid our fuel bill and then took off towards home. The flight back went over the Grand Canyon again (this time over the Fossil Corridor) then over Kingman, AZ, Needles, CA, and Thermal, CA. The flight time was about the same at 2 hours and 40 minutes (more headwinds in this direction). We landed back at Ramona Airport before 3pm. Another nice smooth flight at 10,500′ going 147 knots on 6 gallons per hour. Time now to plan another trip (and to get a better air mattress).
Flying Over The Hills 
One thought on “Quick Overnight Trip To See The Annular Solar Eclipse.”