Day after day, night after night, the sun and moon seem to travel as a cosmic pair, sometimes together, sometimes apart. And rarely, their paths intersect for a brief period of time, casting a shadow on the earth during a solar eclipse when the moon passes between the sun and earth.

The path of the total solar eclipse crossed through the Grand Lake area on April 8, 2024.

Local residents enjoyed the spectacle, but with clear skies limited across the path of totality, a multitude of guests arrived in the area for the spectacle.

Totality, where the sun and moon appear to walk in one another's footsteps restricts the suns rays from hitting the earth for 3 minutes and 50 seconds locally but the effect is other worldly. The horizon in all directions became a flourish of colors like a sunset, the wind became still, temperatures dropped nearly ten degrees and birds called out their evening songs.

The glowing orb of the sun was hidden, with only the corona visible in all directions around the sphere of the moon.

With the same celestial speed the ushered in the mystical scene, the sun reemerged a stride behind the moon to take another dance across the sky.

Also see our photo album