Great American Eclipse draws tourists to path of totality

Hotel rooms across the Cowboy State are going, going, gone, well over a year before the arrival of the first total solar eclipse to be seen from the mainland U.S. in almost four decades.

Jackson Hole is bracing for big crowds, and Native American tribes are promoting their heritage as the perfect backdrop for the rare natural event.

— South Carolina offers the closest eclipse-watching for 100 million people on the East Coast, right before the moon's shadow crosses into the Atlantic Ocean, assuming summer rain clouds don't block the view.

Stars and planets come out, and the sun's corona glows in a perfect circle around the dark side of the moon as the effect of a sunset appears in all directions.

Astrocon2017, next year's annual convention of more than 240 U.S. amateur astronomy groups in the Astronomical League, will bring dozens of experts to Casper over the four days leading up to the eclipse.

Even without astronomical phenomena to attract them, tour groups in Jackson Hole often reserve blocks of hotel rooms a couple years ahead of the winter and summer peak seasons.

The route also crosses the Wind River Indian Reservation in central Wyoming, where the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes plan eclipse-oriented dances and eclipse-day tours to the sites of ancient petroglyphs, said Casey Adams, a spokeswoman for the Wind River Visitors Council.

A lonesome Wyoming mountaintop would offer a spectacular view, but Lyon, the convention organizer, wants to be with his other dedicated stargazers.