Eureka!

The “Eureka!” Experience

During the golden hour of 2 am, the darkest part of the night, I struck paydirt atop Eureka Summit along Alaska’s Glenn Highway on April 28, 2020 when colorful auroras pierced the late spring twilight.

Earlier that evening, as the sun was going down, I embarked on my last aurora hunt of the season and drove northeastward out of Anchorage. During this time of year in the northland, orange & blue twilight lingers all night long and that was the light I was banking on to create a canvas for the auroras to project their color upon. A 130-mile journey up the Scenic Byway later, I crested Eureka Summit with its commanding view to the north.

At a half-past midnight I was very happy to see a subtle aurora band taking shape so I grabbed my camera & tripod and plunged into the snow. Surprisingly, the two feet of white stuff was frozen firmly and I could bootscoot & boogie across it without post-holing. Venus & the setting moon were accompanied by pinholes of starlight as I wandered freely through the open spruce forest. I caught a glimpse of a lynx bounding across the snow, so I felt the land was alive & well.

A little before 2 am the aurora band was still barely visible but, in the span of just one-minute, a switch was turned on and a brilliant string of lights pulsed from horizon-to-horizon for a few minutes strong. I was so thankful I was in position... but then it began to fade down to almost nothing and threatened to fizzle out. I heard myself whisper out loud encouragingly, “C’mon, you can do it!”

Moments later, much to my relief, a bright aurora glow developed within the orange sunset/sunrise and spikes of light surged higher & higher into the twilight blue sky. It was 2:07 am when my camera recorded those purplish aurora rays and I could literally feel the beauty. It was so crisp, calm, serene, ethereal and… rich. I stood there feeling like I had struck it rich ~ Eureka!