ALASKA, SEPTEMBER-0CTOBER 2023
DAYS 1 & 2, SEPTEMBER 21 & 22, TRAVEL TO ANCHORAGE, ALASKA
I flew on
United Airlines from Phoenix, AZ to Anchorage, AK on September 21 where my
friend Betty Springen picked me up at the airport after the night arrival. The next day Betty and I organized what we
planned to take to Fairbanks while visiting about events that have occurred
since we saw each other last spring. It
really felt good to be back in Alaska again!
DAYS 3-5,
SEPTEMBER 23-25, AURORA BOREALIS IN FAIRBANKS, ALASKA
Saturday,
September 23rd, Betty and I flew to Fairbanks on Alaska Airlines. This company never ceases to amaze me how well
they treat their customers. We took Uber
to pick up a rental car and then went to the Airbnb unit that we had rented for
the stay. We took some time to get some
groceries and then rested for a short time because our first Aurora Borealis
tour was scheduled for tonight.
Ronn and
Marketa Murray, their company is called the The Aurora Chasers, picked us up a
few minutes after 10 p.m. We were 11 on
the tour and everyone was excited to see the Northern Lights. The Murrays have outfitted their Mercedes van
very well, including a camera mounted on top with a large screen inside and internet
connection. A video describing the
Aurora Borealis (AB) was shown while we drove to the spot they had selected to
begin. Then we were tutored on how to
set up our cameras. Cameras ranged from sophisticated
cameras requiring numerous settings to get the photos we wanted to “I” Phones
which take surprisingly good photos of the aurora. The Murrays have a complete set of equipment to
rent to customers for their use on tour and they were comfortable moving between
the various types of cameras while helping the customers. The photos were taken with 10 second exposures
each night resulting in the foregrounds being light. It is hard to decide which pictures out of
the 500+ I took to post; however, here goes.
A brochure I
picked up describes the AB the best:
The AB…”dancing
lights are the result of collisions between electrically charged particles from
the sun that enter the Earth’s atmosphere via solar wind. The lights are seen above the magnetic poles
of the northern and southern hemisphere.”
…”The intensity of the aurora varies depending on the amount of
geomagnetic energy being emitted from the sun.
The solar wind hits Earth’s magnetic field daily and creates auroras;
however, from the third week of April through the third week of August the sky
is too bright in Fairbanks to see the northern lights.
Variations
in color are due to the type of gas particles that are colliding. The most common auroral color, green, is
produced by oxygen molecules located about 60 miles above the earth. Less common red auroras are produced by
high-altitude oxygen, at heights of up to 200 miles.”
Very high
energy auroral electrons penetrating deeper into the atmosphere that collide
with nitrogen produce blue or purplish-red aurora. The aurora moves across the sky in many ways—weaving,
dancing, swirling—sometimes fluid and fast, sometimes lazy and slow, and I saw
it all.
Fairbanks is
located below the Auroral Oval which is a ring-shaped zone above the geomagnetic
north pole where northern lights activity is concentrated. Prime viewing hours in this area are 10 p.m.
to 2 a.m. Portions of Iceland, Canada,
and Norway also are below the Auroral Oval, and a similar zone surrounds the
south geomagnetic pole.
The ”show” the first night stayed on the northern horizon for the early hours but moved overhead later. The lights were mostly green with occasional other colors that were light. We saw three “shooting stars”, one of which I was able to catch on a photo. Before returning to town a detour was made to a small pond to see if any lights were being reflected. Seeing none, we continued to town, but made a brief stop along the way to watch a young bull moose grazing a short distance from the road.
Most of the Big Dipper shows up at the top
Sunday, September
24th, we
spent the rest of the morning sleeping after arriving back at the rental unit
at approximately 3:45 a.m. The afternoon
was spent at the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I
have been to the museum several times and never tire of it. After an early dinner, we rested a bit before
going out on our next aurora hunt—this time it was just the two of us in our
rental car. I had decided to go to Chena
Lake Recreation Area about 17 miles from Fairbanks and this turned out to be an amazing night with
an aurora storm in progress! The sky was
lit up in all directions with a multitude of colors. I did not have a tripod, so took photos from
the trunk of the car with the camera pointed straight up while holding my
breath for a 10 second shot, from a picnic table to get shots of the aurora and
lake, and hand holding the camera while pointing it at the dancing lights. The stars in the photos aren’t the sharpest because of the
conditions, but the photos do show the “crazy good” lights we saw that night! The red colors were amazing, and I found out
later that they had not been seen like that since last February.
Same photo as the 2nd one above, but cropped a little
A hint of purple above the pink in the center and right
Monday, September 25th, we again slept in after being up much of the night watching the “show”. We spent much of the day around the rental unit before having an early dinner. I rested a bit before getting ready to go on another AB tour. Betty decided to forgo the tour this night. The solar storm continued this night, and the sky was amazing. I sat in the first passenger row as we drove and observed what looked like a solid white overcast above us. I thought “Wow”, this is amazing; I had checked the sites online to see what was going on with the AB before I left and saw that it was popping. Soon after, we pulled off the highway to get out and watch the Lights. The aurora was truly dancing above us with white and purple readily visible to the naked eye. We didn’t have time or space to set up cameras there, so we continued to a pond that was chosen for our continued observations. In a nutshell, the night was one I will always remember (along with the previous night)! It was one continuous show overhead with changing colors and shapes. I might add here, that on all three nights I took one photo after another, sometimes repositioning the camera when I saw brighter light in a different direction. When I look at my “raw” photos (unedited photos that don’t show all the colors and their vibrance), I see that they are frequently just taken a minute or less apart; however, the light and color that is captured is entirely different. We stayed out until nearly 3 a.m. watching the show. Before stopping, Ronn said it (meaning the Lights) is pulsating and usually precedes a diminishment of the Lights. Indeed, it wasn’t long before the Lights were much dimmer so we packed up and went home for the night. I saw photos online the next day showing that the Lights had become much brighter later during the night; however, I was very satisfied with my last night dancing with the AB.
Video courtesy of The Aurora Chasers (Ronn & Marketa Murray) Look closely to watch the Lights moving.
The night's show is drawing to a close for us. Less than 5 minutes elapsed
between the four photos below.
The photos above and below were taken less than 1 minute apart.
DAYS 6-8,
September 26-28, FAIRBANKS AND ANCHORAGE, ALASKA
Tuesday, September 26th, I slept for a few hours before it was time to take Betty to the airport for her flight back to Anchorage. I spent time that afternoon editing some photos before having an early dinner at one of Betty’s and my favorite places to eat, Pike’s Landing. I called it a day early since I wanted to get my body on somewhat of a “normal” schedule.
Wednesday
and Thursday, September 27th and 28th, were quiet days doing errands around
the rental unit and turning in the rental car.
I departed Fairbanks for Anchorage at midday on the 28th and
had a wonderful flight with clear skies.
The colorful fall foliage was in full view as was Denali (aka Mt.
McKinley) and the surrounding Alaska Range mountains, glaciers, and
valleys. It was really a beautiful
flight-complete with outstanding service from everyone at Alaska Airlines. Betty met me again at the airport and we
headed to her home.
Friday-Sunday,
September 29th and 30th, October 1st.
It was a beautiful day in Anchorage on Friday, so Betty and I decided to
go to Potter’s Marsh which is a nearby wildlife refuge. It was a wonderful day to enjoy the
outdoors. This was followed by a visit
to a store in town to get a geocache (the only one I got on the trip), and
dinner.
Potter's Marsh
Chocolate flows continuously in the fountain behind me
On Saturday I was able to visit with Sandy Glover, who lives with her husband Gil on the Kenai Peninsula. I had not seen her since I was last in AK in 2017, so it was a delight to catch up. The Glovers let me park my motorhome at the side of their home during my 2017 trip for several days, which was a special time to get to know them better and to meet some of their family.
Not the best photo of Sandy and me, but we sure had a nice visit!
Sunday was
another day to renew old acquaintances.
Betty and I drove to the Wasilla area where we visited with Charlene
Christensen. Charlene “found” me on
Facebook last winter and we reconnected via that medium. We had not seen each other for 59 years, so
we had some catching up to do. Sometimes
I really dislike Facebook, but I stay on it because so many of my family and
friends are on it which keeps me connected to what they are doing.
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Charlene Christensen and me--friends from our days in South Dakota while in the Flying Farmers and at South Dakota State University
The weather
took a turn to the colder side on Saturday and Sunday with clouds obscuring the
mountains. Snow was forecast for some of
the lower elevations during the next few days, so warmer climes were beckoning. I spent Monday repacking my suitcases and
visiting with Betty before she took me to the airport to catch my late-night
United Airlines flight back to Phoenix via Denver. I landed in Phoenix on schedule the morning
of the 3rd, where Marie Christensen was graciously waiting to take
me home. Thus ended another 2023 Bucket
List trip. It really was an experience
of a lifetime, and I am so glad I made it!
ONE LAST PHOTO TO CLOSE OUT THE BLOG
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This cow and calf moose grazed in Betty's front yard while I was in Alaska.
