Friday evening I hiked up to a overlook by myself to spend time alone with the Aurora Borealis. After the sun set it began subtly and slowly built up, but then about an hour in the sky exploded! There were colors every direction including an explosion straight above me and so bright to my naked eye!

As it started to happen I was walking from one part of the ridge line to the other for a different photo vantage. Hiking in scattered brush and trees with a tiny headlamp I noticed the sky above begin to glow, and then everything around me brighten up! I literally almost cried. It was happening! I’ve seen the lights before but not like this. The entire area around me felt like a scene from ghostbusters. Above me green, purple, and maroon lines moved like a spiderweb out and down the sky!

I was now close to my spot and once arrived dropped the pack and scrambled to set the tripod up. The lights danced all around me and over the lake and mountains in a silent color-filed serenade. But I could hear it louder than anything else, and I was completely in awe. As I put my camera up I hollered and yelled across the Clark Fork valley “whooo hoooooo! Yeahhhh baby! It’s happening!!” It was absolute spontaneous joy! I was just about downright jumping and I’m sure the people in the valley could hear a wild man on the loose. And I hoped they did.

In a strange way I was wanting to share that moment with others, let the world know to look up! I half expected hollers coming up at me from the valley after that. But besides the thousands of frogs croaking down from the lake, it remained silent. Later, I learned so many other photographers were looking up with intense emotion as well. Maybe that’s what I was feeling. A sort of bond connected with humanity through this experience.

In these kinds of moments it’s impossible to capture everything one is seeing. Or even see everything happening for that matter. But I pointed my camera where I wanted to capture and let fly.

I ended up staying up all night and into the next day as my travels took me more places to capture the lights. But those stories are for another day…..