A Swell Eclipse 2023

October 9-17, 2023

I always have a camping/geocaching event each October, and I usually try to avoid fall break when the schools statewide are out Thursday and Friday and a lot of people go camping that weekend. This time, however, an annular solar eclipse was happening on the Saturday of fall break and I wanted to plan the event around that. The path of the eclipse took it over the southwestern half of the San Rafael Swell, and I drove down after work on Monday to secure a spot along the Moore Cutoff Road. I worked remotely Tuesday and Wednesday but didn’t do much else, besides walk the dogs along the dirt roads near camp. By Wednesday evening my wife, her mom, and five of my nieces and nephews had arrived.

Tuesday evening at camp
Tuesday evening at camp


I had Thursday and Friday off work, and on Thursday morning I left the dogs with my wife and went for a hike. First I explored a couple of canyons that seemed interesting and I found some red and blue pictographs.

Overhang
Overhang

Red and blue smudges
Red and blue smudges

Red and blue pictographs
Red and blue pictographs

Dryfall
Dryfall

Ridge between two small canyons
Ridge between two small canyons


Next I hiked through two more canyons where a friend had told me there was some rock art. In the first there was an overhang with some red squiggly line pictographs. While I was there my friend Jim texted me saying he’d just showed up at camp and learned that I was on a hike and wanted to join me. I sent him the coordinates for my truck and said I’d meet him there in a bit. I crossed over into the other canyon and found a lot more than I was expecting. The friend who told me about the rock art only mentioned a bear print petroglyph, but there there was a huge, unusual panel there as well!

Dryfall
Dryfall

Grinding stone near the wash
Grinding stone near the wash

Overhang
Overhang

Squiggly pictographs
Squiggly pictographs

Bear print petroglyph
Bear print petroglyph

Large abstract panel
Large abstract panel

The largest of the panels
The largest of the panels

Barbell with red pigment
Barbell with red pigment


I went back to the truck and found Jim there waiting for me, and he hopped in with me and we drove to the next spot I planned on visiting. This was a rock art panel I’d been to before, the “Fairy” pictograph and some others. We checked it out, then I took Jim back to his truck and we stopped at the Dry Wash snake petroglyph before going back to camp.

Fairy pictograph
Fairy pictograph

More pictos near the fairy
More pictos near the fairy

More pictos near the fairy
More pictos near the fairy

U.S. Civilian Conservation Corps, April 26, 1939; B.M., W.E., May 23, 1939
U.S. Civilian Conservation Corps, April 26, 1939; B.M., W.E., May 23, 1939

H.E.W., May 23, 1939, CCC
H.E.W., May 23, 1939, CCC

Thursday evening at camp
Thursday evening at camp


More people arrived at camp on Thursday and Friday, and I stayed most of the day Friday just hanging out with everyone. I did take a short drive to visit the very first pit house I had ever seen, 15 years earlier. At the time I’m not even sure I knew what it was, but this time it was fun to return and look around for artifacts (of which I found none). I decided I should practice taking photos of the sun before the eclipse and they turned out okay, especially considering I’m just using a point-and-shoot camera with disposable eclipse glasses in front of the lens.

Pit house along Dry Wash
Pit house along Dry Wash

Practice shot for the eclipse
Practice shot for the eclipse


Saturday morning came and more people arrived to watch the eclipse, and we had 25 people total there. We all sat around and chatted while watching the eclipse progress, and the daylight became eerily darker and it grew colder. The cold surprised me the most. After annularity those who weren’t camping left, and the rest of us stayed at camp all day and played games, then had a potluck dinner that evening.

Beginning of the eclipse
Beginning of the eclipse

Crescent sun
Crescent sun

Annularity
Annularity

The group at the peak of the eclipse
The group at the peak of the eclipse


On Sunday I wanted to hike in upper North Salt Wash and I asked around for anyone else who wanted to go, and ended up with a group of five. We took two trucks and parked at the upper end of the canyon, then dropped in and started hiking downstream. I had already hiked the portion farther downstream near Sid and Charley, but I hoped this southern section where it cuts through the Curtis Formation would hold some more rock art. We hiked about two miles, which was about as far as I’d planned on going, but Brent talked the group into going a bit farther to see some rock art that I’d already been to. We got to the rock art and took a rest/snack break nearby. I decided we should walk the road back to the trucks since it was more direct and less shwhacky–in hindsight we should have just done a one-way hike with a vehicle shuttle.

Heading down North Salt Wash
Heading down North Salt Wash

Narrow watercourse
Narrow watercourse

Even narrower watercourse
Even narrower watercourse

Yellow cottonwoods
Yellow cottonwoods

Layers in the Curtis Formation
Layers in the Curtis Formation

A large overhang
A large overhang

Natural arch
Natural arch

Balanced boulders
Balanced boulders

Porcupine track in the sand
Porcupine track in the sand

A great panel
A great panel

Funky guy
Funky guy

Wavy arms guy
Wavy arms guy

Broken-hearted man
Broken-hearted man

Neon foliage
Neon foliage


Everyone left by Sunday evening but I stayed and worked on Monday, then took Tuesday off work and went home that morning. That was my last RV camping trip of the season and it way a good way to end it!

Photo Gallery: A Swell Eclipse 2023

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