Northern Lights Illumination

(Please note that my posts are almost two weeks delayed).

March 15, 2018 Finland

I decided to join the Northern Lights wilderness hunt that evening although my husband suggested that I just stay behind. I was emboldened by what the tour guide had said earlier, that there would be a bonfire inside the shelter at the Saana Fell to keep us warm while we waited for the Northern Lights. The temperature could drop to as low as negative 30 degrees in that high altitude and wilderness. Even with a dozen winter clothing piled up on top of each other, I bet I would suffer from hypothermia at negative 30.

Our borealis guide that evening was Johanna or Yona or Yohan. Their family owns the Kilpissafarit. She picked us up from the restaurant on a sleigh.
On our way to the wilderness, we could already see the aurora in the sky. It spanned all across Lapland illuminating the white snow with its greenish hue.

We traveled back to the Saana Lake where we had ice fishing earlier that day.
We went past the lake and climbed the base of the mountain to have a spectacular view of the Northern Lights.

There were about 10 people that were already there at the station when we arrived at around 8:30 pm. The husband of Johanna was standing outside the shelter waiting for her. They were very sweet to each other. Giving each other a kiss every chance they got. Siguro two weeks pa lang yang married or maybe three. I could be mistaken,  they may have been together for a long time.  Maybe three months. Still in love.

It was extremely cold that evening. Earlier during the ice fishing I had trouble with my toes. The rubber snow boots I was wearing seemed not to protect my feet well enough from being frozen. This evening, the same thing happened. My toes were already painful and I could feel that this was worse. In just a matter of time if this cold continued, my toes would be frozen.

My husband and daughter enjoyed the outdoors. Edmund even wanted to sleep on the snow. The stars were twinkling oh so brightly in the sky, and the whole 180 degrees panorama was bathed with the green aurora. We were not only seeing one, two, or three aurora borealis but the whole surrounding was engulfed by it. We were actually inside the green illumination.

I slipped and fell on the snow. There was a downhill portion in front of the shelter that was dangerously slippery. I slipped twice but fell hard the third time. I felt the pressure on my butts but I also hit the back of my shoulder and head on the snow. Luckily the snow was softer than cement so I didn’t perish.

I spent most of my time inside the wooden shelter, beside the bonfire trying to warm my hands most especially my toes. The husband of Johanna named Jonas or Yonas (napansin ko tila hawig-hawig ang mga pangalan nila), advised me to keep on moving my toes and legs for the blood to circulate. He looked at my shoes and told me I was wearing the wrong shoes. Huh? They were the one who gave me this shoes remember? He said the manufacturer told them the shoes were good up to negative thirty degrees but from their past experiences, it didn’t hold that’s why they no longer buy those kind of boots. And now he’s telling me? Grabe.

I could feel my toes already have frostbites. They were really painful. I was counting seconds and minutes till we go back to the cabin so I could get out of this effing winter coats and $#%@ winter boots. I was dealing with a lot of discomforts. The right side of my face and neck were painful, my hands were starting to freeze, the skin on my toes and the underlying tissues were almost frozen. I was in pain and feeling distraught. I went out of the cabin only for a few minutes when I asked my daughter to take a souvenir photo.

What was supposed to be a Northern Lights hunt became a sort of welcome for us.  We didn’t even have to look for it.  The Aurora bathed us with all its glory.  Just like the first time I saw it,  it was the one waiting for me.

We could not get enough of it.  We could spend the whole night in the coldest night I’ve ever experienced.  My neck was already stiff from looking up.  I wished I could lay down and just gaze at the clear but dark sky devoid of artificial light pollution. I could see thousands of bright stars that peered through the beauty of the green rays of the borealis. The harsh cold prevented me from enjoying what could have been an amazing sight.  I didn’t even have to look up,  the aurora’s rays were everywhere, even touching the snow below.  We were literally inside the borealis.    It’s impossible to capture every shape and movement of the aurora with a camera.  You can have a billion photos and not get tired of it.   You just have to photograph it in your mind and keep the experience in your memory.   

On our way back to civilization, while our sleigh was cutting through the expansive frozen lake, a giant and very intense aurora borealis suddenly appeared on our left side, then another one on the far right. Then a strong radiance appeared from behind. When I turned my head, I saw a huge, long, and very strong aurora that seemed to be going to our direction.   I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The aurora was following us. We could no longer stop to take pictures.  I just looked in awe and pictured it in my mind.  It was surreal.