Hypnotic illusion, or an elysian dream,
God's imagination, or is the reality so serene…
My fortunes have lit up, in this night so cold,
Oh primordial forces of this land, this soul is now sold…
For years I had pictured Aurora in my mind. Does it flash and fade away, or does it stay for a while, or does it or move swiftly? Sure I had seen countless documentaries to seek answers. But with every article I read and with every video i saw, my curiosity and desire to see the northern lights aka Aurora, just kept on increasing. So I decided, when I switch to a new job, before I join, I should take a break and travel to the arctic and the sub arctic region to see this awe inspiring beauty. So here I am, flying from Washington DC to San Francisco,CA to Anchorage,AK and then to Fairbanks, AK (12 hours of flight time plus about 10 hours of break). And finally, from Fairbanks a 6-8 hour road trip to the arctic circle check point on a road called Dalton Highway which could only be described as god forsaken highway. Why god forsaken? The nearest emergency services, gas stations etc are hundreds of miles away. And to top it all it is so rugged that no rental car agency allows you to drive there. So I ended up taking an authorized guided tour.
I was tracking aurora forecast for weeks and all the values were pointing to moderate displays(around 3 kp on a scale of 9) with a warning that these values may not be accurate and may change with time. So when the D day arrived, I was prepared to be either disappointed or be mesmerized.
It was 11 pm in the night and the sun was yet to set. It is called the land of midnight sun for a reason. The temperature was around late thirties(a bit above 0 degree celsius), which after living in DC metro area for more than 5 years was not unfamiliar to me. I saw very faint green light in the sky and our guide said - look that is the aurora. At first I couldn’t appreciate what I was seeing, and thought geez this is not moderate display, it is a very faint one. Nonetheless I was happy and was lucky enough to see it. Our guide said, wait till it gets dark, the displays may be a bit more prominent. So at this point my expectations were pretty low, but I was still hoping against hope. Finally it was dark, and aurora started getting stronger, much much stronger. Much stronger than it could possibly be referred to as moderate. It was as if the sky was a huge canvas, and mother nature was painting it with mostly green and sometimes with shades of purple. At the first glimpse, I was so mesmerized that my body was numb and I could not feel the weight of my hands and legs. The clamor of thoughts in my mind was silenced by the sheer beauty of the lights. I was smiling the whole time and just could not stop staring at the sky. Aahh, so lucky I was. The forecasted values were wrong, and this was not moderate, but a very strong display. After a while I mounted my camera on to the tripod and took countless pictures. The lights were waving in all directions. I was staring at the sky till almost 4 am till the point where my mind gave up and wanted some sleep but my heart just wanted more. At around 6 AM we finally reached my hotel and I could not stop thinking about it. Slept till 8 AM and then finally left for the next destination in my itinerary.
Mother nature plays beautiful tricks to create such amazing phenomena. In our busy city lives, where our work, family and friends are all what our routine consists of, we are often disconnected to such simple but beautiful things. There is so much to explore in such a short time. All we need to do is go out of our comfort zone and appreciate the nature.
TL;DR
Like a crazy guy, i went all the way to the arctic to pursue my dream to see the aurora. And it was the most amazing experience in my life. :)
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