2019 Alaska Trip - Day 127 (Continued) - Alaska Sends Us Off With Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis), Delta Junction, Alaska

Well, I posted our August 31 entry a little too soon. Around 10:30 p.m., our neighbor here in the campground at Clearwater State Recreation Area came by to let us know the Northern Lights were happening. We knew the possibility was good for tonight, but it was earlier than expected and we just weren't thinking about it at the time. We're so thankful he came over.

One of the main reasons we planned to end our Alaskan journey at the end of August and in the north was our hope to see the Northern Lights. We saw sort of a glow in Iceland last year but nothing like the photos you see of bright streaks of dancing colors.

We were beginning to think that all those amazing photos had been digitally enhanced. Well, let me tell you we spent two hours watching one of the most amazing things we've ever seen. The streaks are real. The bright colors are real. The dancing lights are real. Not all Northern Lights experiences are like that, but they do happen and tonight we were treated to it in person.

I had no idea how to photograph this phenomenon, so I just kept putting the camera on every setting I could think of and hoped. I certainly didn't get professional quality photos, but I got a good sampling of what we saw.

This was my first photo, and I was going to be pretty happy with that.

 

 

Then I got this light "tornado" going through the handle of the Big Dipper, Alaska's state flag symbol.

 

 

I didn't want to take time to set up a tripod and the camera was fussy about whether to take a photo in the darkness or not. But I found I could get something if I took a "night portrait" of something in the foreground.

 

 

I got out our loungers that we'd already packed away for tomorrow's move, and we sat out with blankets marveling at the spectacular show.

 

 

It was truly one of the most amazing things we'd ever seen as the lights danced, the brightness changed, and red and white and purple lights joined the dominant greens. It was truly jaw-dropping as I stood and spun 360 degrees with my mouth open .... and just repeating "Wow! This is unbelievable". It was so special it nearly brought us to tears, and the sight is impossible to describe in words or photos and do it justice.

After sitting for a few minutes and taking it all in, every once in awhile, I had to get up and just see if I could somehow get some kind of photo to document the experience.

 

 

These are handheld, long exposures - so blurry, but I didn't care at that point.

 

 

 

Using the Jeep as my foreground.

 

 

The lights faded for a short time, and then they returned. This shot is over the two campsites next to us.

 

 

After watching for an hour and a half and having seen what Linda described as lights that looked like strips of fabric blowing and waving in the wind, she called it a night.

I stayed out for another half-hour or so, and I got this one final photo before I joined her.

 

 

I was still pretty pumped up and couldn't go to sleep. I watched through our skylight, and went back outside around 2:00 a.m. to find the show was still in progress.

As if we hadn't already had our share of outstanding, fantastic, memorable Alaskan experiences, the Aurora Borealis was certainly the icing on the cake. WOW!!! 

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Comments

[Julie]

I'm so glad you got that final grand sendoff.

[Tracy Perkins]

I’m so happy you got to see the Northern Lights. We only saw the, once when we were there but it was totally amazing. For me it was like God was painting the sky. Certainly a memory you will never forget!