Had a great trip - totality was definitely one of the coolest things I've ever seen. There's another one in 2024, but not as close. Highly recommended.
We got a later start then planned on Saturday, and got up to WY321 at about 8:00 with the sun setting, so we set up in an area that had a few tents rather then driving up to an area further north that I had been looking at. There's alot of BLM land up there, but it's difficult to distinguish from privately owned land and some land is aggressively posted.
On Sunday we drove up and checked out the area I had planned on camping, and found a sign indicating that there was a locked gate on the road, and you could only go up with permission of a rancher up the road. There's clearly BLM land up that road, but access was blocked - I guess I'm not clear whether it's a public road? Anyway, we had a spot, so I didn't inquire further. We spent some more time following some trails trying to find a way over the mountains to Poison Spider Rd on the other side - the topo map & GPS showed routes, but we couldn't find them in practice, but did find some posted fence across areas where the routes might have gone at some time. Again, the ownership of the land and status of the trails was hard to determine - we stayed on the trails, respected fences and signs but I was a little worried. I did talk to one other group up there with a couple of UTVs scouting for hunting who had the same concerns. One of them said something about a "chip" for GPS receivers to tell you when you're on public land.
Finished out the day with some driving practice for Nate, and returned to find our encampment had grown to about 12 vehicles - not quite as isolated as I had anticipated, but it wasn't crowded.
On Monday we drove another hour north on dirt roads to get closer to the center. Saw a few vehicles along the way, but very sparse. You've probably read as much as you care to on the eclipse by now, so I'll just say it again - it was definitely one of the coolest things I've ever seen! Will post some pictures tonight.
