• NEW LOCATION*

Please join me for a 5K walk or run on the Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade. We will pick up the under the Hawthorne Bridge, walk to the Steel bridge and then head back to the start.

This is going to be a very informal event. No time chips, just a group of friends getting together to enjoy getting smelly & sweaty! This will be a kid friendly, jogging stroller, dog friendly event.

Please bring your breakfast/lunch and join us for a "picnic" after the walk along the waterfront near the park.

When the moon is exactly between the earth and the sun, we get eclipses. Full eclipses occur when the moon is near enough to the earth to block the entire disk of the sun, and the earth, moon, and sun are exactly in line (syzygy). Given that the moon and sun are rather small in the sky (half a degree) and that the moon's orbit precesses and is inclined by 5.5 degrees to the earth-sun (ecliptic) orbit, syzygy lineups are rare. Given that the moon is much smaller than the earth, its shadow passes over only a narrow strip, moving west to east.

If the moon is at apogee, the far extreme of its orbit, it does not block the entire sun, but leaves a ring of bright sunlight around the moon, an "annulus". The ring will be perfect near Crescent City, and the eclipse will block 94% of the sun's disk. Further north near Portland, the sun will peek over the top of the moon, and we will see a crescent, horns down, blocking 88% of the sun at Portland's latitude.

The eclipse becomes visible at sunrise over coastal China on Monday May 21, passes over Japan, the international dateline at local noon, south of Alaska on May 20 and then to Oregon near sunset. It would be way cool if someone would use something like Google Hangout to aggregate webcam feeds from around the Pacific Rim.

This may be the only chance in your lifetime to observe an annular eclipse without traveling halfway around the world, or into space. Eclipses are spooky and cool. Don't miss this one!

The Oaks Bottom wildlife refuge is known for its native plants and the flowers are blooming! Join us as we make a loop around the pond and document plants, animals, and fungi using the iNaturalist mobile app. We'll work together as a group, no experience needed. No phone required either as we should have plenty. We'll set out about 15 minutes after the start time so find us in the parking lot.

RSVP on eventbrite

Your hosts: Tim Welch and Matt Waddell

What to bring:

• iPhone or Android phone (if you have one)
• Northwest plant ID book (if you have one). An excellent one for this location is "Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast"
• Suitable shoes/clothing (could be a little bit wet/muddy)
• Snacks, water & drinks to share
• A cup, plate, and spoon couldn't hurt either

What to do before coming:

• Create an account with iNaturalist - http://www.inaturalist.org/
• Install the iNaturalist mobile app on your phone
• After opening the mobile app, search for and join the 'Dots Connect' project. That will keep our groups observations together so we can all see what we accomplished.