After spending two nights camping in Kentucky, we packed up and headed to our final destination – the Defeated Creek Campground in Carthage, Tennessee. We arrived at around 3:30pm on August 20th, so we had plenty of time to set up camp and explore the campground. I had reserved spot #10 on the Lake Loop, and we were more than thrilled with this site!! Really, I think that all sites at this campground are pretty great, but the ones along the perimeter are just amazing. The views of Cordell Hull Lake can’t be beat, no matter where you are. It’s a pretty big campground with 155 sites for both tents and RVs, but the sites are so big so you really don’t feel packed in or on top of your neighbor. All of the sites have water and electric, which was nice and convenient. We don’t typically use electricity while we’re camping these days, but it’s nice to be able to charge the phones. The bathhouses are clean and not too busy, but they did get pretty hot and muggy in the warm weather, and after a few showers some areas of the floor were flooded. (See this campground review on The Dyrt).
Anyway, let’s get to the main event – The Great American Eclipse! The Defeated Creek Campground was in the path of totality. The morning of the eclipse, there was a program put on by the Army Corps of Engineers Rangers. It was geared towards younger kids, but most of the questions were asked by the adults. We spent the rest of the morning hanging out at the campsite and walking around the campground.
The eclipse began at around noon with totality at 1:30pm. As totality approached and it got darker, the birds stopped singing and the crickets started chirping. We were also able to see stars and planets, and the temperature seemed to drop quite a bit. Suddenly we were unable to see the sun through the glasses at all, and that’s how we knew that the eclipse was at totality. Totality lasted for 2 minutes and 39 seconds, but it was over so quickly!!
Before we knew it, the brightness and the heat of the day was back, so we headed out to The Bearwaller Gap Trail. The trailhead is right near the campground, and was super close to our site. It’s a 6 mile trail (one way), and it’s a pretty strenuous hike. We didn’t hike the whole thing but we managed to check out a small portion of the trail while we were there.
The next morning, we packed up and headed home. My very first post kind of touches on the trip home (which was hell), and a bit about how this blog came to be.