I have a reason to be on that land that day so aligning best for killing several birds with one stone. I leave for the West Coast early the next morning so I need to take what I can get.
10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,0 days and counting - Eclipse in Northern NH - Where you going to be ?
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Andrew
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I've started to wonder if officials were thinking that if the village and park become overwhelmed, they could direct traffic south along Rte. 5 where there is a miles long stretch of road that is somewhat straight with very wide shoulders and a wide sky view, and is roughly along-side the open sky of Crystal Lake (although RR tracks, private lands between)? With the typical characteristics of a secondary road in VT, this might be a rare location they could work out a traffic mess, but Rte 5 down into Burke/Lyndon would not be good place for traffic.
Vt Public yesterday was describing the very wide range of potential visitors as 35,000 (poor weather), 135,000 clear weather. Difficult to plan for.
Andrew
Active member
We prepared at Monadnock for the Harmonic Convergence I guess that was back in the 1990's, but had no calls. At least it will get light again for a bit afterwards.
I've started to think maybe I should have planned to stay home since I have a tractor and might be able to make some cash pulling people out of ditches. I was imagining people getting stuck in traffic on the primary roads and just turning down random secondary roads if they weren't at where they planned to be and getting into trouble on soft shoulders. Although despite our town officials hope that Bethlehem would be a desired destination, I don't think it will be.
TCD
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"Michelle Nichols, who directs public observing programs at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago.
"Drive those last few miles to get into the path of totality," she urges."
There may or may not be clear weather, and there may or may not be chaos on the roads. But I can see why small towns and counties are concerned about people being desperate to get into the path of totality. It's certainly a risk.
Knowing that, I'm quite surprised to see a person in a "public facing" position making a pronouncement like this. Seems like poor judgment...
"Drive those last few miles to get into the path of totality," she urges."
There may or may not be clear weather, and there may or may not be chaos on the roads. But I can see why small towns and counties are concerned about people being desperate to get into the path of totality. It's certainly a risk.
Knowing that, I'm quite surprised to see a person in a "public facing" position making a pronouncement like this. Seems like poor judgment...
With respect to Northern VT, they had a small simulation of a similar mass event in 2004. Look back at the 2004 Phish Concert in Coventry VT about 15 years ago. The parking lots rented from local farmers rapidly became a mud bog. Local roads then became parking lots, then I 91 became a parking lot for several miles. It took days for people to get back to their cars and weeks to clean up the mess. The local stores and gas stations despite stocking up in advance ran out of everything. Now multiply that for an entire region. There are few local law enforcement groups, mostly volunteer ambulances and at best the Vermont State Police might be able to free up 10 troopers for the north country as they also need to deal with I91 and I 89. The folks at the concert were not Leave no Trace and a lot of trash and discarded gear got left. Phish also had a few concerts at Limestone Maine and they worked out a bit better as the former airforce base was far more hardened, lots of paved roads and gravel lots. I ended up having to go on a business trip to New Brunswick during the last Phish concert and drove back the day after he concert had ended. I expect it was the only time I 95 from the RT 1 exit at Houlton to where I turned off in Pittsfield was bumper to bumper. Cars were pulled over and some rolled over in the shoulders and medians all along this stretch.
Jay Peak is hyping their event but its all rural state highways from I91 to the resort. It is fine for those with a room or a spot for a tent but not so good for a day tripper.
I knew a local in the Coventry VT area during the Phish concert and her teenage son and friends knew the local farm lots and ways of getting around without roads, they made money hauling concert goers into and out of the concert across hay fields.
Lancaster NH has the same problems, its either turn off I 91 or I 93 in Saint J and then go east on RT 2 for 30 miles or take RT 116 to RT 3 or RT 135 from I 93.. No doubt the normal traffic jam along the main drag in Littleton will be a major choke point.
IMO, if the forecast is good anyone heading from the south to the zone of totality had better plan on spending a couple of days wherever they are going. Great for the tourist businesses to stretch it out, not so good for someone who needs to be back at work Tuesday morning. Probably a good idea to bring a car or truck with good range or a rack of Jerry Cans on the bumper with enough fuel to go an hour or two south. I expect anyone with an EV is going to be SOL as there is not much charging infrastructure in the north country.
Jay Peak is hyping their event but its all rural state highways from I91 to the resort. It is fine for those with a room or a spot for a tent but not so good for a day tripper.
I knew a local in the Coventry VT area during the Phish concert and her teenage son and friends knew the local farm lots and ways of getting around without roads, they made money hauling concert goers into and out of the concert across hay fields.
Lancaster NH has the same problems, its either turn off I 91 or I 93 in Saint J and then go east on RT 2 for 30 miles or take RT 116 to RT 3 or RT 135 from I 93.. No doubt the normal traffic jam along the main drag in Littleton will be a major choke point.
IMO, if the forecast is good anyone heading from the south to the zone of totality had better plan on spending a couple of days wherever they are going. Great for the tourist businesses to stretch it out, not so good for someone who needs to be back at work Tuesday morning. Probably a good idea to bring a car or truck with good range or a rack of Jerry Cans on the bumper with enough fuel to go an hour or two south. I expect anyone with an EV is going to be SOL as there is not much charging infrastructure in the north country.
If Accuweather is correct the long range forecast is looking pretty good for submarine racing in northern Vermont before during and after April 8th. Not to mention high wader cow tipping. Time will tell.
Andrew
Active member
Looks like I was all wrong previously stating the worse of mud season would be out of the roads by then (anyone may want to reconsider any suggestions from me!). The forecast for this week brought us back into more traditional patterns but heading into the weekend is some good winter-like conditions, another round of challenge on the way for the gravel roads. I'm very glad as I was needing frozen conditions to work in the woods (people depend on this).
VT Digger is running a story today about the 2004 Coventry situation. I lived in Tunbridge, VT in the early 90's when a Dead show in VT occurred in Highgate, with a Phish concert the next day at Sugarbush. We thought we had it all sewn up as 'locals', but spent many hours in the car very close to Sugarbush and missed the entire first set. Early in the 80's I recall sitting far from Hershey, PA on an interstate in a concert traffic jam. You could buy a t-shirt from people walking by, as well as just about anything else from people taking advantage of commerce opportunities with the stopped traffic.
My guess is eclipse watchers will value not abandoning their vehicles more than Dead/Phish heads, and with this event all they would have to do is stop where they are and pay attention.
Correction: Read it on NHPR.org website this morning and then heard it aired on VT Public
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Interesting you are the second member here comparing Bobby, Trey and the rest of the boys to an eclipse. Even if there is gridlock during the eclipse and you are directly in the path you have three and a half minutes to take it all in. Whereas with The Dead and Phish you have three and a half hours or more. Whether it rains or not. I'll bet on the latter next time around.
I saw on Facebook someone across the lake in the Adirondacks advertising a place on his 20 acres with woods and a field for $175 for the day with no services.
It's got me assessing my parking situation. I can get 15 or 20 cars in here. Being on the western facing slopes with a great view at 1550 ft I could make some money.
Just keep in mind that if there is compensation involved, normal insurance or recreational liability protections do not apply. I think there are some aps out there like Hipcamp and Air B&B who should have the insurance aspect figured out.
He's not asking for money but instead a donation, right?
The more we think about it, the less inclined we are to go anywhere. Seems a hassle for 3 minutes. I don't really get the intrigue here. Better to just be on a mountaintop any of the other 364 days of the year, particularly on a sunny day, and enjoy the sun and the light.
BTW, the actual event from the first bite of the sun from the moon takes place a couple of hours before totality an continues on a couple of hours after before the moon no longer obscures any of sun. The period of totality when the sun is completely obscured is 3 minutes or less.
Don’t want to miss the first set. But if you get stuck in your car go hike.
Accuweather forecast as of 3/28 for Pittsburg NH. It is sunny on the day before and the day after, the forecast could shift between now and then..
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NH2112
Active member
The panic when the first notes of the tune-up start and you are still outside the gates is real.
10 day forecast starting to look good. I expect more folks will plan to head north.
Andrew
Active member
Once at the festival in Johnson, VT I was staring up at the cliffs of Prospect Rock wondering what the hell I was doing in a crowd of muddy people and not enjoying the forest instead. I wandered off and eventually found myself looking down at the scene and enjoying it immensely from the safety of the forest, best seat in the house.
Gravel roads in our area didn't get much worse from last weekend's winter conditions, as the frost didn't get any deeper and eventually continued to work out, with the melting snow soaking down in.
NH2112
Active member
It’s looking good here, too, but that Wed-Fri stretch will definitely mean trouble for bare-booters. I’m going up it this afternoon to see what trail conditions are like. High temps are forecast to be below freezing all next week so at least the roads shouldn’t be a big mess.
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