Epic.

In August 2023, we decided we would go four-wheeling in Moab. No dates. Just a fantasy.

In September, we were finalizing dates and realized the annular eclipse was during one of our possible windows.

So we set to work.

In a few weeks, we did the research needed to get a small refractor, an alt/az mount, a wide angle DSLR lens, admittedly suspicious quantities of lithium batteries, and all the miscellaneous attachments, adapters, tools, and other gear needed to make this happen. We tested it (almost) all out in the driveway, learning the software for the astro camera, learning to deal with the mount not calibrating correctly, figuring out why the images always looked green, and so on. We reserved a modified Jeep to rent, got flights, had to fix flights, got hotels for the night before and after picking up and dropping off the Jeep. We got trail books and a Utah state atlas, we plotted potential routes according to the predicted path of the eclipse and how we would scope out potential landscapes for the image you see above as well as what else we wanted to go see while we were there. Finally, the night before, we realized we needed to pack our camping gear. We were planning 8 days in the desert, with only one night of respite in a hotel. We were boon dockin otherwise.

A few unhappy flight attendants and a trip to the Walmart later, we were in Moab with food and water for a week.

We are going to write a blog post here to detail the fun, but suffice it to say we got the shot, and had a blast doing it.

8 days
~1000 miles
3 National Parks
Over 9000 pictures

Every single day, we said the word “epic” more times than we could count. When it was time to go home, we knew this wasn’t gonna be it.

So this site, for now a log of a single trip, will soon be chuck full of outrageous adventures where we take a telescope places it has no business being and we ride closer to the edge of death to than my mom would like.

Adventure is for everyone. What will yours look like?