See also: Northern Lights and More Northern Lights!
Click on the pictures!
Early last week, I got word that we were expecting a solar storm on October 10 and 11. I had just started by staycation and I had the flexibility to travel north. First I checked the weather for places up north in Michigan and found out that clouds were expected to roll in on the evening of the 10th and rain on the 11th. Checks in Wisconsin and Minnesota didn't fare well. New England was slightly better but I wasn't sure I wanted to travel that far. So the 11th was a bust but I could roll the dice for the 10th. I was able to get a room in Mackinaw City that was near the park that looked upon the Mackinaw Bridge.
Once I got checked into my hotel, I went across the street to the park. There were already people there that had staked out positions. Photographers with fancy equipment. I talked with this guy that was taking pictures of the bridge. It seemed the northern lights were going to be the icing on his cake -- if they came out.
I grabbed some dinner at a local chippy and discovered that I'm not really a fan of whitefish.
With dinner done and the sun setting, I grabbed my camera, tripod, and a folding chair to stake out my spot on the beach. When I got there, even more people were there and the one good spot that I was planning to claim--which had boulders--was taken. So I backed up a bit to a grassy part of the beach.
The wait for the darkness after sunset was long but eventually--with the aid of the camera--the lights started to appear.
At first, the lights were barely perceptible. Even with the camera's display, I wasn't sure I was seeing anything.
The plan was to use the Mackinaw Bridge and have the lights be the backdrop but most of the interesting views were to my north east, coming overhead and even behind me, and then going towards west south west. I wasn't looking north to an aurora, I was in it.
Greens and reds were the colors I have always seen. Only now, after viewing these photos, I can see the different colors that were shifting about. This guy here was pretty annoying. His cellphone was always shining back at me.
The lights are starting to intensify.
Streams of light would move along from the right to the left and pulsing in intensity.
A family decided to plant themselves in front of me. They were probably annoyed by my camera's timer light going off but oh well, I got there first.
The moon was still up and I can only imagine as I looked in back of me to the south and south west, how more bright these might have been.
For a few minutes, the lights really got bright and I could see the colors with my own eyes.
Looking above me. I like to imagine this being a phoenix.
The clouds are rolling in and becoming a problem.
Better take a moment as this is coming to an end!
Some evidence I was actually there!
They're going!
The last of the lights that I saw were dimmer and also thanks to the clouds, I had to stare straight up. I continued to watch the lights shimmer and dance. When I finally packed it in for the night, they were very dim but I had been out there in the cold for almost six hours. Nature was calling -- but back to the hotel.
I was so fortunate that a series of circumstances came together to allow me to experience this. There is a tinge of regret however. There are many people I know that haven't experienced it. I know I would be deeply jealous.
