The Aurora Borealis

The main goal of our trip, of course, was to see the aurora borealis, a.k.a. the northern lights. For the first couple of nights, we drove north on the Steese Highway and pulled over by the side of the road at one of the many pull-outs along the way. We were able to see the aurora, but they were faint and off on the horizon. Before we left for our trip, I started following @aurorawebcam on Twitter, which gave me regular updates about the strength of the aurora. For those first two nights, they were never strong, but we were happy to see them nonetheless.

One important thing to know about the aurora, though, is that you need a nice camera to get any pictures of them. We had two smartphones, two point-and-shoot digitals, and a flip cam, and weren't able to really get any good pictures on those first few nights. You need to be able to leave it on a long exposure (preferably on a tripod), and have nice, clear skies. We totally lucked out in the weather department and had clear skies every night. In the camera department, however, we were out of luck. Here's an example picture that I shot on our second night out. The aurora are there, but my camera couldn't capture them:




In addition to my Twitter research on the aurora, I had looked online extensively for tips on how best to get a glimpse of them when planning for this trip. On one of my searches, I came across the website for Skiland, a ski mountain north of FAI that offers aurora viewing from their lodge all winter. For $25/person, you can stay inside, where it's warm, and get an unobstructed view of the northern lights from their lodge at the top of the mountain, along with coffee and tea to keep you warm. Since NOAA and other forecasters were predicting really strong aurora for our last two nights, we decided to pony up and go to Skiland to view them. Boy are we glad we did. The views were absolutely awesome. Indescribably awesome. The first night, there were really strong aurora right overhead. We got quite a show. Every which way we looked there were bright, dancing lights. It was really cool. These pictures don't even begin to do it justice, but it's the best we could do with our crummy cameras:






On the second night, we learned about Skiland's other amazing benefit (for those of us who don't have DSLRs, anyway): they have a photographer on site who will take professional pictures of you in front of the lights, which you can later order prints of online. We had a few done, but don't yet have digital copies, so all I've got to post here is the picture I took the second night. The aurora on that night was just as strong as the night before, if not stronger. This time, it came in waves, one ring after another, nesting inside each other. They were incredibly bright all night, and just kept coming, wave after wave. The only picture I could manage is this crummy blur, which doesn't even come close to capturing the experience. It was amazing.



The northern lights can make you feel so small, yet are totally entrancing. I highly recommend making the trip to see them to anyone and everyone (although FAI can't handle everybody at once!). A couple of things to keep in mind though:
1. Make sure you plan a fairly long trip to maximize the chance that you'll be there on a clear night with strong aurora. You need this combination to get the full effect.
2. Since there's no guarantee of seeing them, plan your trip around daytime activities, so you'll still have fun even if you don't see them. The ice carvings are really cool, and they do them every year.
3. DRIVE SLOW ON ICE! We saw many tourists stuck in ditches because they were driving way too fast on icy roads. Slow down!!!
4. Take a good quality camera and a tripod. Point-and-shoot cameras won't quite do the trick.
5. Spend some time just watching the aurora instead of constantly photographing them. Some of our fellow viewers spent so much time trying to capture them that they forgot to experience them. Let yourself enjoy the lights. You won't regret it. I'm glad my camera didn't work well. I got to really enjoy the aurora without the pressure of trying to get the perfect picture.
6. Oh, and dress warmly. You really can feel the difference between -2 and -20 (F). Bundle up, and make sure you've got a wind-breaker of some kind or the wind will chill you to the bone.