Walking a short distance from my front door & up a ½ mile forested trail, I would arrive at Council Crest Park, located atop the Portland West Hills. There, I would have a 360-degree view of the eclipse along with 99.5 percent totality. Instead; I will be driving to one of several spots, which are located in the path of 100 percent eclipse totality, depending on favorable weather conditions. These are; Depot Bay, Lincoln City, Oregon State University campus, (Corvallis OR), Dallas OR, Mill City OR, or perhaps, Madras OR.
Below; are the reasons I’ve decided to seek out 100 percent totality.
Phenomena
“Sunlight looks strangely different; not day and not night. It's a dim and diffuse kind of sunlight. The sky displays a gradient of colors, dark to the west and blue to the east.”
“Look at the ground, especially white surfaces. You may see the elusive
shadow bands which are sometimes seen just before and just after totality. Shadow bands flicker and dance and somewhat resemble the refractions of sunlight on the bottom of a swimming pool.”
“In the very last seconds before the Sun is extinguished by the Moon, you may see the very thin crescent of the Sun (through your eclipse glasses) suddenly break into a thin string of beads. These are the
Baily's Beads and occur because the last vestiges of sunlight are peeking through valleys and low points of the Moon's limb. The very last Baily's Bead lasts for only an instant and the breath-taking sight of this last tiny bit of sunlight along with your first view of the corona is called the
diamond ring.”
“Throughout the two minutes or so of totality, you will see something like a 360-degree sunset, brighter towards the north and south which are outside the path of totality. You'll notice darkening first to the west and as the eclipse progresses, the darkening moves to the east as the Moon's shadow rushes over you.”
“Stars and planets. The brighter stars and planets will be visible during totality. A bright star, Regulus in Leo, will be visible just to the left of the eclipsed Sun. Mercury is further to the left and Mars is to the right. Venus is a considerable distance away to the right but will be the brightest object in the sky besides the corona. In fact, Venus will be visible a few minutes before and after totality if you look in its direction. While it will be possible to pick out the brighter stars throughout the sky, don't spend the precious time doing so. Instead, concentrate your attention on the corona and the light show in the sky as the eclipse evolves.”
Very cool stuff if being lucky enough to find the correct viewing location.
After scouring locations throughout Oregon via Google Earth and contacting various agencies, I do believe the location of the Cascade Solar Fest
RV Camping - SolarFest just happens to be close to perfect with a weather forecast to match. Located in Turner Oregon and directly 58 miles east of Depot Bay, the location is a scant ½ mile off the center line. Additionally, with a population of 2,031 Turner Oregon is flat farmland with unobstructed views as far as the eye can see. The Painted Hills located in the John Day Fossil Beds
Painted Hills - John Day Fossil Beds National Monument (U.S. National Park Service) would have been my first choice; however, authorities decided to close the national park for fear of the possible destruction of its natural beauty.
