Eclipse lovers camped out here for days. It was worth the wait (2024)

With gray skies overhead, the vibe was a little somber Monday morning at the Amistad National Recreation Area in South Texas.

People had been camping out there for days to get their spot for Monday’s total solar eclipse. And now they weren’t sure whether they would get the payoff they were hoping for.

“The only thing to talk about this morning was clouds. That was the only topic of conversation that people wanted to have,” photographer Sarah Silbiger said. “Everybody was kind of watching the maps and feeling a little nervous.”

Amistad, one of the few National Park Service sites directly in the eclipse’s path of totality, is right near the US-Mexico border. That meant its campers would get to see the eclipse in its full splendor before most of the country.

But first, the weather needed to cooperate.

Every time the clouds started to clear, you could hear people expressing their excitement, Silbiger said. A man took it upon himself to shout out a countdown to the moment of totality. People seemed nervous, but hopeful.

When the moment of totality arrived at 1:28 p.m., there was cloud cover. But there was still hope, because totality was supposed to last three minutes and 28 seconds.

Everyone waited. The anticipation was building.

And then, for a few moments, the skies cleared and the campers could finally get a glimpse of the sun being fully blocked by the passing moon.

“When it happened, everyone started cheering and it was very memorable,” Silbiger said.

Monday’s eclipse passed over Mexico, the United States and Canada, and 49 US states were able to see at least a partial eclipse. A strip of the continent was within the path of totality, where the sun was fully blocked by the moon.

“It’s highly spiritual in the sense that you feel the minuteness of humanity and how small we are in the universe,” said Cleto Castro, who traveled from California to Texas to watch the eclipse. “To me, it’s awe-inspiring.”

The campgrounds at Amistad were “filled to the brim” for days, Silbiger said, forcing many people to look elsewhere to set up in nearby Del Rio, Texas.

“We were just at Walmart (on Sunday), and the parking lot had a ton of RVs, vans, people camping in their cars,” Silbiger said. “The campgrounds around us are sold out, so people are choosing the slightly less glamorous option of camping in the Walmart parking lot.”

Silbiger’s campground was “filled with out-of-towners, some from as far away as France,” she said. “But then there are folks that are just from East Texas that came to be in the totality.”

Del Rio has embraced the extra attention, holding a Solar Eclipse Fest over the last few days with live music, art exhibitions and science presentations.

An eclipse-themed popup market was a hit among artists and small business owners showing off their products.

“I almost sold out of all of my earrings,” said Jasmine Cordero, who sells handmade jewelry.

One business, Mesquite Creek Outfitters, had a popup tattoo parlor where people could commemorate the occasion with some ink — options included a moon, of course, and an astronaut cowboy.

Photographing the eclipse was a welcome change of pace for Silbiger, who had been covering the White House for six years. Since Thanksgiving, she and her partner have been traveling across the country in a Winnebago, fulfilling a dream.

“It’s been a joy,” she said. “We have huge windows that are right next to our beds and I literally can look at the stars as I fall asleep.”

Living the “van life” has also allowed her to slow down from what was a very fast-paced environment in Washington, DC. Now she can cover other stories and spend more time reading and cooking healthy meals.

“I’m able to just be a lot more intentional about how I spend my time,” she said.

Silbiger was among those who arrived early to Amistad for the eclipse. She enjoys the energy at the campground and the sense of community that started to develop there.

“People are having campfires together, hanging out, helping each other fix all of the many problems that always happen in vans,” she said.

In most campground settings, people are always coming and going because they’re on their own schedules. But this was different. People were spreading out and getting to know one another.

“Everyone’s here for the same reason, and now they’ve been here long enough that they have had the same neighbor for like five days,” Silbiger said. “And that’s kind of fun.”

For many Americans, this was the last chance to see a total solar eclipse for 20 years. The next one won’t be visible across the contiguous United States until August 2044.

The campers in Amistad didn’t get to see the three and a half minutes of totality they were looking forward to, but Silbiger said she didn’t hear anyone grumbling afterward. Especially after the uncertainty on Monday morning.

“It was too amazing, I think, for folks to not just be grateful to have seen it at all,” she said. “I think everyone was pretty excited. There was a positive energy.”