Aurora Twister

A monstrous display of the northern lights over the Chena River Valley and Hills from the Angel Rocks trail. The night started out pretty slow with low aurora activity. Hiking up the Angel Rocks Loop was fairly easy, but we continued along the Angel Rocks to Chena Hot Springs trail headed for the top of the hill. We soon found ourselves in deep snow and had to stop to put on snowshoes. Then the wind picked up. The auroral activity didn’t seem to be changing much, and it was cold. Cold enough that the batteries in my headlamp fizzled. I replaced them with my last set of AAAs and decided to head back. On the way down the aurora peaked in brightness over the hills, long enough to get this shot and a few others. Then it fizzled to a diffuse glow across the sky. Here’s a link to the full gallery.