The most incredible aurora in decades!
This is the fourth post in a row about photographing the aurora borealis, but it will be the last one for quite a while. The posts have been about progressively better displays, but there’s nowhere to go after this one. I haven’t seen any reports from scientists yet, but I feel confident that the title “The most incredible aurora in decades!” is accurate.
The aurora forecast from the University of Alaska Fairbanks is my #1 go-to. It’s not 100% but I feel it’s the most accurate, and I know who produces it. This was the forecast for the night of Thursday-Friday, October 10th-11th. A Level 6 forecast gets every aurora fan excited, a Level 7 more so, and a Level 8 is so rare that it’s only seen once every few years. This was the first Level 9 I’d ever seen.
There was a problem, though – a huge problem. The skies were cloudy! Looking at various forecasts, it appeared that the clouds would start clearing about midnight and the skies would be clear by 04:00. I was still pondering what to do when I started seeing incredible photos posted by Facebook friends in eastern Canada. Okay, this was real and I needed to find clear skies! I eventually decided that Kluane Lake offered a good chance of getting them, and at about 6:30 I started geting things together for a long drive and an all-nighter Adventure.
I stopped halfway to Whitehorse right at 7pm to get a photo of the sky – I could see a tiny break in the clouds to the south over Fish Lake, but not enough to give me any confidence that staying home might be an option.
I decided to take Cathy’s Jeep, and stopped to fuel up.
From both forecasts and a report by a person at Haines Junction, the Junction was where I expected to start seeing some clearing. It started raining lightly just west of Whitehorse and I could see low clouds and heavy rain just to the north. There was a brief period of freezing rain that caused a bit of worry, and then some sleet with the temperature right at 0°C,, but just after getting through the area of sleet, I could see a very bright sky far in the distance to the west.
The skies did start to clear as I neared Haines Junction, though not nearly as much as I had hoped for. I stopped just east of Haines Junction at the Kluane Range Rest Area, though, and at 8:46 shot my first aurora photos of the night. The colours were amazing – I was very excited about the possibilities that might be ahead.
With the skies getting darker and the aurora more obvious, I stopped on the shoulder of the highway a few k west of the Junction to get a few more shots.
With a 2-second delay and a 25-second exposure, I sometimes get photo-bombed when shooting on the highway before most people have gone to bed 🙂
I stopped a few times on the 62-km drive from Haines Junction to Kluane Lake. When I shot the next photo at 9:23 there was still a little bit of sunset light at the horizon. Because of the amount of movement in the aurora I was mostly using ISO 1600, and this one was a 13-second exposure.
This amazing wedge of aurora was shot at 9:33.
A selfie on the shoulder of the Alaska Highway at 9:41.
At 9:51 I tried to show you what the actual drive was like. I was stopped, but with the camera steadied on the steering wheel there was still some movement during the 8 seconds it took for this photo. I should have boosted the ISO way up to get a shorter exposure.
At 9:57 I stopped for a few photos at the Kluane Lake Viewpoint Rest Area at Km 1635. The spot provides the first views of the lake.
Looking down the highway to Kluane Lake from the rest area.
At 10:16 I started shooting from the shore of the lake at what we call “Bella’s Beach,” my dog Bella’s favourite place to play because of the sand and gentle drop-off. There’s a large pullout here, at Km 1642.1. In the first photo, looking northwest, Sheep Mountain is the prominent peak. The lights of a vehicle of the highway can be seen.
Looking along the beach to the northeast, towards the ghost town of Silver City. The aurora covered probably 80% of the sky now and you could shoot in any direction.
There was at least one, and perhaps two, other photographers on the beach. Joseph, from Whitehorse, can be dimly seen in the next photo, and there was probably another person a few hundred yards off to the northeast. This aurora show really brought out the crowds! 🙂
I shot a few verticals. Even with a 10mm lens only a small section of the display could be recorded.
More sky, or more lake? Decisions, decisions…
Even just facing one direction there was an infinite variety of patterns and colours to photograph. Every now and then Joseph or I would call to the other to look above or behind or to the right or whatever 🙂
Looking to the northeast again.
Looking straight up, with the camera lying on its back on the beach, at 10:36 – it had now only been 20 minutes since I started shooting on the beach.
Back to the Sheep Mountain view, at 10:39 and 10:41…
Back to the northeast, with my head on a swivel 🙂
Looking southwest up the Slims River Valley at 10:47 and 10:56.
While the entire sky was often energized and coloured, there was an occasional break to show how spectacular a truly dark sky is.
At about 11:00 I needed to get warmed up. Although the temperature was only -4°C/+25°F, there was a chilling wind. The Jeep isn’t very aurora-viewing friendly, as there’s no way to run the engine without the lights coming on. I didn’t want to disturb the other photographer(s) with my lights, so drove a few miles around to the Kluane Lake viewpoint at Km 1650.8. It was time for a new view anyway 🙂
From the new location I could see a few clouds moving in from the east.
I had never tried photographing the aurora with my phone. I knew that iPhones can do it, but didn’t know that androids could. Over at the beach, though, Jospeh had showed me that his Samsung could, so I shot a couple with my Google Pixel. Not DSLR quality but not bad.
As well as getting warmed up I apparently had a nap, because the next photo was shot at 11:46 🙂
The new location was very exposed, and the much stronger wind even caused concern that it would jar the camera during the long exposures. I tried to shield the camera as much as possible by shooting downwind from the Jeep and with my body, and that worked – I didn’t lose any shots due to movement.
A couple of shots looking straight up at 11:48 and 11:49.
Except for the wind, the new location worked out very well. The reflections across the lake were very good…
…and I got some good traffic shots as well.
A couple of minutes before midnight I took a couple more shots then headed north looking for a different, more sheltered, view.
I drove 12 km to a huge pullout at Km 1662.5 – this would be the furthest north I would go this night. It produced some very good images. I had tried other spots on the way here but they didn’t work for various reasons.
Catching a vehicle going by the pullout. I had seen a few vehicles pulled over along the highway during the drive from Haines Junction to Kluane Lake – probably people enjoying the aurora.
The mountains made a nice foreground to some of the photos I shot here.
Whoops – I hadn’t walked far enough past that sign and didn’t notice it in the frame.
I shot several photos at this pullout between midnight:13 and midnight:17, and they are the best sky-filling colours of the night.
Shifting to the left – except for the rapid movement of the aurora this could form a panorama with the photo above.
I seem to have gone back to sleep then – I was exhausted. The show had dimmed considerably when I woke up and I started driving back to Whitehorse, expecting (or at least hoping) to make a few more stops on the way. The next photo of a virtual wall of energy to the north of the highway, was shot between the lake and Haines Junction at 01:18.
I stopped at Canyon Creek at Km 1547.5 of the highway. I woke up with a start at 03:10 to see a brilliant aurora display right in front of me. In the minute or two it took to get my tripod and camera set up it had faded considerable but was still pretty good when I got one shot, then it quickly vanished.
Much of the sky was still energized, and that background glow of various colours was occasionally punctuated by brief brilliant and fast-moving displays. I stopped for a few of those displays. The next photo was shot at 03:21.
Looking back towards the Junction from the same spot, a vehicle was approaching.
The view ahead on the highway at the same spot.
Over about 20 minutes I stopped several times for a quick photo to record the amazing colours and patterns and clouds. With the increasing clouds as I got closer to Whitehorse, I was wondering what people in Whitehorse had seen. I certainly hoped that they had gotten enough breaks to experience some of what I had seen.
This bright band along the northern horizon was interesting.
A final highway-selfie at 03:32.
The brilliant displays became fewer and fewer, smaller and smaller…
The final photo shot along the highway was at 04:08.
There was another brilliant display as I pulled into my driveway but I wasn’t quick enough to capture it. The final photo of the night/morning was shot from my deck at 05:09, as the Air North flight to Vancouver was going by.
Well that night blew my mind. I’ve seen a lot of aurora, but I’ve never seen aurora like that. I also don’t expect to ever see another show like that. In 10 hours (7pm-5:00am) and 512 km, I shot 147 photos, of which I’ve posted 57 here. When I left home, Cathy was worried that it would be beyond my abilities, and it certainly pushed the limits – those naps were mandatory. But I am deeply grateful that I was able to do it, and I’m very pleased to be able to share a bit of the experience here. Thank you for joining me 🙂
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Absolutely beautiful, thank you for sharing.
Thank you, Patsy. That aurora was so strong it was seen in San Diego and Tallahassee!
Wowza Skookum performance of the Northern Lights with a photographer of awesome Skookum abilities, mind blowing experience I am sure in the capturing of this photographs, I have seen some amazing displays on the ice road from Yellowknife to the diamond mines but nothing to this magnificent magnitude, thanks for pushing your personal boundaries to capture this shots of a once in a lifetime experience 🇨🇦
Thanks, Paul- it was indeed mind blowing. I hope I will still be amazed by normal aurora!