The west view toward the moon in Badlands National Park with pink, red and green Northern Lights.
Exclamation points. I know. In two blog headlines in a row. But this was one of those moments that totally deserved exclamation points — May 10 in Kansas and May 11 in South Dakota, where Alethea Kontis and I photographed the Northern Lights. I’m including the video in both posts because it’s fabulous and I don’t want you to miss it! (Exclamation point.)
All the driving had us plumb tuckered, to be honest. We’d chased storms for a couple of days around central Texas in less than ideal territory with less than stellar results, then booked it all the way north to the Hill City area of Kansas to shoot the aurora. We stayed up very late to do so. But the temptation to seize one more night of the geomagnetic storm was strong, and if we could do it in the beautiful Badlands National Park, wouldn’t that be even better? Especially when the skies were more likely to be clear there.
We stayed at a motel/RV park just outside Badlands National Park, giving us easy access.
It was a gamble, as all storm chasing is, but we decided to take the risk. Worst case, we’d see lots of lovely country and visit Wall Drug. I drove us up through Nebraska on a blue highway over gorgeous rolling hills with hardly another car in sight. It was an exquisite afternoon. And I had high hopes of good weather in South Dakota, which were realized as the low clouds on the horizon behaved themselves.
We stayed in a motel/RV park right on the edge of Badlands National Park, making access ridiculously easy. We went in before sunset to scout out a shooting spot — other photographers were already staking their claims — and set up to capture the aurora.
The good and bad thing about our spot was that a major park road was nearby. Bad: Headlights sometimes shot into our eyes as cars rounded the curves or overexposed an image. Good: Sometimes the headlights lit up the peaks in the rocks, making the foreground even more dramatic. You can see this effect in at least one photo I’ve shared here.
The burst of color didn’t last long, but it was dramatic. And what a landscape!
It took a while to get going, and the best of the aurora lasted maybe forty minutes, but it was stunning. And then the moon set and the Milky Way rose and we were awash in stars, probably the most I’ve ever seen at once. We waited a while, dozing a bit in the car, but when the aurora seemed to be asleep, we thought we maybe should be too. Or at least we needed a comfort break. So we drove the few minutes back to the hotel, and Alethea retired for the night.
I thought I saw a persistent hint of aurora on the horizon (wishful thinking?), and I went back out, picking a different spot, in hopes of capturing the Milky Way with the aurora. It was after 3 a.m., and all was quiet in my chosen perch, with the rocks surrounding me like a moonscape.
The Milky Way glowed, but the aurora colors from earlier were barely hints in the sky. Still, a pulsing green beam of light — very faint, so I had to adjust my settings to capture it — crossed swords with the strip of star systems in spectacular fashion. What I could barely see with the eye looked like science fiction in the lens. A friend later suggested it might have been a proton aurora.
By the time I got back to the hotel, there was a different glow on the horizon: hints of pending dawn.
I could faintly see a pulse of light; a longer exposure with a higher ISO revealed this green “beam.” And so many stars.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience … so far. I hope to get to Iceland or Norway or another northern viewing spot soon while the sun is still in an active period so I can see the vivid colors of the aurora with my eyes and not just the camera.
As far as chasing goes, this was one of the best chases of the trip by far.
Roll over images to see captions, or better yet, click one to start a slide show of larger photos.
