SUBLETTE COUNTY – No one knew exactly what to expect around the county on Monday – but almost everyone discovered the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse changed their lives in one way or another.

From growing fascinations with sun-gazing to sharing too-quick moments of awe with friends and family, the eclipse brought together a most unusual assortment of people along dirt roads, trails, fields, mountains and front yards to glimpse a larger part of the smooth machinations of the universe.

And the very smooth machinations of Sublette County – with local, state and federal interagency planning under way for months – meant hosting many thousands in its expanses and landscapes with viewers arriving and setting up chairs well into Monday morning.

The smoothness offered by all that planning ahead also brought a midweek flood of pre-eclipse shoppers to Ridley’s well-stocked grocery store in Pinedale after Smith’s in Jackson failed to keep shelves filled for early arrivals.

Influx

An estimated 1 million visitors came into Wyoming before Aug. 21 by air, cars, mountain bikes and RVs for the once-in-a-lifetime “Great American Eclipse.” Almost half a million vehicles entered the state from Wednesday, Aug. 16, through Sunday, Aug. 20, according to the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT).

That led to just under 25,000 out-of-town vehicles wheeling into Sublette County, according to Sublette County Sheriff KC Lehr. On Sunday alone, about 8,500 vehicles entered the county.

“The eclipse went pretty well,” Lehr reported to the commissioners at their Tuesday meeting. “It was pretty uneventful. Calls for service didn’t really increase a lot for us – mainly just dealing with everyday calls. … So other than the increase in traffic, the calls for service were pretty normal.”

With wildfire concerns looming in the late summer’s drying landscape, Sublette County Unified Fire chief Shad Cooper and other agencies pulled together to contain campfires and other open flames on public lands. Three fire stations stayed open and on call just in case.

But all in all, Cooper said, “The eclipse went really well. We had three bad car wrecks over the weekend – which was down from what we had anticipated and prepared for. Our firefighters were pre-positioned. … We didn’t have any wildland fires. From the fire department’s perspective, it was a good weekend.”

On Wednesday, agencies began lifting the fire restrictions.

Lehr noted that WYDOT’s traffic counters, which also included local travel, hadn’t yet added in Monday’s arrivals.

Wyoming Game and Fish reported Wednesday that statewide, boaters stayed safe, few people got citations and no conflicts were reported among large carnivores and the public at large, although two moose died in local collisions.

Leading up to the big day, Sublette County Rock Hounds Club held its first rock and mineral show at the county fairgrounds, bringing hundreds through Marbleton and Big Piney and cinching the Events Center as next year’s state show location.

The Pinedale Eclipse Festival, with weekend events at Museum of the Mountain Man and American Legion Park, brought almost 1,000 people to the Pinedale Fine Arts Council’s (PFAC) special Friday night Soundcheck concert with The Deer, Lonesome Heroes and Whippoorwill.

“The evening was easily one of our biggest shows ever,” said marketing director Tim Ruland, noting the bands have large fan bases with many locals and eclipse viewers also attending.

Ruland spoke with visitors in the park while setting up sound for various events and they enjoyed their first impressions of Pinedale, he added.

“So many different people from so many different walks of life and everyone was super nice,” Ruland said. “Those who'd never been to Pinedale before were completely blown away by how cool of a town Pinedale is. While I'm certain the town was economically impacted all week by the influx of people, I'm also certain that it will be impacted for years to come by those people who had a great first impression returning in future years.”

Pinedale’s iconic Cowboy Shop felt the increased foot traffic as well, said manager Halley Bing: “We sold out of three rounds of (eclipse) T-shirts and we also sold a lot of ‘Wyoming’ gifts and souvenirs.”

Viewing locations

Last-minute overnight travelers were happy to pull over for near-solitude or joyous crowding. Most referred to Google Earth as their inspiration for deciding to stop in Sublette County. Well before the weekend, people were turned back from lookouts at Green River Lakes and the Elkhart Park trailhead as campers headed for higher ground, leaving hundreds of vehicles parked along forest roads.

While many latecomers slept in their cars, near the Hoback Rim, entrepreneurial Tara Miller set up a dry-camping site in a nearby pasture.

A group gathering in Bondurant came from Fort Bridger and Washington, with one driver saying in the Snake River Canyon at 4 a.m., people were already filling those pullouts.

Kids in pajamas, sleepy toddlers and serious sky-watchers rolled out of cars and trucks parked around the Jack Creek-Dell Creek road loop Monday morning – perhaps fewer than opening day of deer season but all very pleased and respectful.

Tony Martinez and Greg Evertsen, from Ogden, Utah, stayed at a friend’s ranch in LaBarge and drove up Dell Creek Road at dawn Monday with a telescope set up beside a hayfield for their first eclipse.

In the meantime, Louise Winney at the Bondurant Post Office sold out of more than 60 sheets of special eclipse stamps as a friend visiting from Tennessee helped stamp special “eclipse station” cancellations on 600 envelopes.

In the post office and Branding Iron Café parking lot, dozens of cars parked in two neat rows for the café’s breakfast and special eclipse drinks as the Bondurant Library sold about 300 T-shirts and hosted a family party for 150 or so of their new best friends.

At a café table, Barbara and Fulvio Brambilla of Milan, Italy, sat with another couple after visiting national parks and Jackson. The highlight would be the total solar eclipse that they decided to view from Bondurant – although unable to find a closer room, they spent the night before in LaBarge.

“Everyone seemed very happy and amazed by the eclipse, specifically how cold it got and how the sky looked dark but different than a normal twilight,” noted library director Yvonne Bailey.

As the moon began blocking the sun around 11:30 a.m., the air itself took on an eerie cast and slowly darkened and as totality approached, temperatures quickly dropped about 20 degrees and inched back up to 80 after an hour or so.

Totality in Hoback Basin lasted a short but beautiful one minutes, 36 seconds.

Up Skyline Drive, north of Pinedale, the traffic was light but steady as roadside pullouts began to fill up with vehicles by mid-morning. Many arrived from surrounding states, including Colorado and Utah, while others came from more distant locations.

The mood was good-natured and festive as the growing crowd savored the anticipation of totality. As it approached, the temperature grew cold and the landscape began to darken, taking on an eerie, grayish light. Once totality hit, the crowd erupted in cheers, then settled into a solemn experience, trying to absorb the visual overload that was the total solar eclipse.

The Upper Green and Green River Lakes were anticipated to be one of the county’s busiest locations, with totality spanning over two minutes in duration. Every side road, pullout and even some day-use areas from the end of the pavement at the boundary of Bridger-Teton National Park in Kendall Valley up to Green River Lakes had cars and RVs occupying them as night fell Sunday evening before the big show.

Around 7 p.m. Sunday, the Bridger-Teton National Forest (BTNF) advised that Green River Lakes was beyond capacity and asked visitors to make alternate plans. Despite the area seeing a large influx of campers in the area, most respected their neighbors and were spread out enough to give everyone ample space to make the experience enjoyable for all involved.

As totality ended, vehicles immediately started departing the area, kicking up miles of heavy dust as a string of cars, trucks, motorcycles and RVs headed back to civilization.

Debrief

Jim Mitchell, of Sublette County Emergency Management and Homeland Security, spent almost two years with cooperating counties and agencies all trying to plan ahead for the one-in-a-lifetime event – without knowing exactly what to expect.

“Everything we heard from previous eclipses was ‘you’re going to get double what you expect,’” Mitchell said Thursday after packing up the Pinedale Eclipse Joint Information Center west of town.

Early estimates hovered around 30,000 people but many arrived several days ahead of time, “it was not en masse but smooth,” he said. “People trickled in and that was great.”

WYDOT posted updated messages about filled-up locations at points where drivers left the interstates and Sweetwater County loaned its AM-radio system with changing messages, he said.

Throughout the close-knit planning and undertaking of “eclipse management” Mitchell said everyone learned a lot about “what works and what to change.”

And wireless communications held up – until Tuesday – when cell-phone users with some carriers heard “all circuits are busy” messages.

“I learned a lot and I never planned for something so big in all my life,” Mitchell said, adding he headed up to Willow Lake to experience totality. “The cooperation with all the agencies was awesome. Even counties not in the umbrage assisted. The working relationship we have normally was enhanced throughout the eclipse.”

He added, “The exodus was what we thought it’d be, though.”

“All the parties involved, from the Forest Service to the fire to the sheriff’s office to the state, the BLM (Bureau of Land Management), everybody was prepared to make it a successful, safe event,” concluded Lehr on Tuesday.

Stephen Crane and Mike Moore contributed to this article.