The blog
Heaven on earth
The struggles and rewards of a 5:10am departure
Even thinking about how much I love roadtrips, love to drive, and love any drive involving the north, I still thought to myself that I maybe would rather fly, given the choice.
I remain convinced the 2 hours between Whitehorse and Vancouver at some 35,000ft is among the most beautiful time I could spend anywhere in the world, especially as we traded the last of the northern lights for sunrise and the typically cosy service from Air North.
The endless mountains, the glaciers, the brightening twilight sky so soft and seemingly endless coffee and perfect little breakfast on board just could not have made for a better far too early morning. Although one more sleepless night at the end of an aurora season was nothing new under the sun.
So this quick week away was the best of both worlds - another treat of a flight down, and a three night, 2,800km drive back up a few days later - the most relaxed and leisurely schedule I’ve ever had as long as I’ve been in the north.
After a second day of 800+ kilometres, we settled into our wood cabin in the middle of nowhere with leftover Subway, which we quickly decided to postpone enjoying until after a late night trip to the Liard Hot Springs just 60km away. The drive further along the shores of Muncho Lake and through the Liard bison herd was breathtaking, as it always is.
Spending golden hour, sunset and twilight in these natural springs ranging from 34°-44°C was nothing short of heavenly. We had the place almost entirely to ourselves, and the loudest sound was the water trickling into the pools.
So of course we made another stop there on our morning out before continuing home. The few degrees below zero meant it was a cold, quick change into our swim suits, but then it was all heavenly and the most relaxed 700 kilometres home from there.
“It’s a great night to go to work!”
I was supposed to be getting my final things together to get out the door, but I was just running and back forth between the east and west windows of my apartment. The aurora was arcing overhead and curtains were dancing.
Walking around the front of my car, I was trying not to kill myself on the skating rink the parking lot had become while also watching the aurora dance overhead. I took a quick video and shot it off to my family chat...
“It’s a great night to go to work!”
Our night that followed was spectacular of course. After a short drive to add a little further separation from incoming cloud, the aurora danced, and danced and danced and danced.
Warm temperatures, little wind, and beautiful moonlight - it was the most exhilarating of nights with the aurora in all of her heavenly splendour.
Auroral activity did come back down the following couple nights, but still we enjoyed beautiful skies and vibrant colours even under the spring full moon. They were the nights that make my heart swell with love for this magical phenomenon that give so much beauty and meaning to life.
The usual suspects
“All we need are clear skies and patience.”
It is my most sung song. It is everything in aurora chasing and so much of my world.
This time of year, the weather moves so fast. It snows sideways in the streetlights one minute, and ten later, clear skies are overhead. Panic and worry is completely unnecessary, and instead I’m getting used to living in the Icelandic mantra of ‘If you don’t like the weather, wait 10 minutes.”
Nights this week were filled with breathtaking auroras, of course all the way through to the far too early morning. The ice sings loud, the temperatures swing widely, and this morning I stood against the frame of my balcony door with it swung half open, feeling the warmth of the sun with my coffee in hand.
The annual March heatwave has arrived and spring melt is on.
A very messy time and an empty blog
The last month has been me surviving a relatively controlled level of daily chaos, with still far too little sleep and not nearly enough time in the days to keep up blogging.
CaptureOne is littered with nights and nights of aurora chases, all with beautiful stories to tell.
Each night, the hours into the early morning have been the calmest and slowest of my days and weeks. Gentle clear sky chases and magical timing with the aurora has been the soothing I’ve been craving. It’s a time where there’s no rush, nothing else to do but carefully read weather maps and travel slowly out between locations.
This underlying calm is something I’ve always loved more than anything in aurora chasing. There’s always still such excitement for each night, but the underlying calm from a chase of something we have no control over is, in an otherwise completely chaotic time, so soothing.
So here’s a short collection of some of my nights lately, from new moon to full moon.
Equal parts exhilaration and exhaustion
A couple of nights with opposite forecasts. “Clear” and “mainly cloudy”, but they meant the same thing, as they usually do… Skepticism of forecasts and predictions, and a subsequent chase into clear sky.
Still they fill me with exhilaration, and equal parts exhaustion.
Dramatic weather is nothing new to Whitehorse, but a few days above freezing at the end of January flipped the city from the most beautiful, hoar frost covered, crisp white winter wonderland into the quintessentially ugly northern spring of gravel, brown slush, and icy deathtraps.
Now, a week or two later as I sit here and write this, heavy snow finally falls outside blanketing all the frozen brown slush after a night of ice fog sat over the city. Low cloud covers the mountains and the sky is just an endless, flat grey tone.
It’s the cosy winter days I dream of.
The most beautiful part in all of that above freezing mess was the melting of so much snow on the lakes. Puddles formed and refroze, reflecting gorgeous colours and intensities of light from the aurora.
The ice became the loudest I’ve heard this year. All through the night, the lake sung in the deepest tones; a constant companion through the -33° night.
