Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Aurora Borealis From Fairbanks Question(s)

Well, they sort of "buzz"...

But that might be the beers buzzing...

Bees buzz, so beers must be able to buzz too.

oh chit I thought that was just from shooting without hearing protection


it's been those danged aurora all along? Who knew?

I heard them buzz once when I was in Healy! It could have been some of those cow patty mushrooms that some damn hippy from Orygun talked me into choking down with my whiskey though. I'll never know.

Thinking you were in the wrong pasture...

Sounded a little like bacon in a skillet. More of a sizzle than a buzz.

Oh it was the right one, just some bad planning on my part. It was a loooong walk out.

PM me an email, best I can do since I have no clue since I dont' have em on photobucket....
Jeff

There were some spectacular northern lights over the Alaska Range near Petersville last night. Check out the Kenny Creek Lodge Facebook page for pics.

My wife and I were in Fairbanks a couple of weeks ago for this very reason. We got one excellent light show and one good light show during our 10 days there. It depends on solar activity and the cloud situation.

You may want to reconsider where you are staying. The Fountainhead resort is in town and you will have to deal with the light pollution when trying to view the lights.
We stayed in three different locations while we were in Alaska. The first was Chena Hot Springs. I am not sure I would stay there again. It is a bit to touristry for me. Although the hot springs are very nice and I would recommend a day trip out there for a soak and tour of the Ice Museum and the Geothermal plant.

The second place we stayed was the Mount Aurora Lodge. It is away from the city and they will knock on your door when the Aurora is active if you want them to. It is run by a very nice accommodating couple. She is an excellent cook and will accommodate any food allergies or general food preferences.

The third was a cabin outside of Fairbanks owned by a professor at UAF which we found on Air B&B. It was also very nice and well appointed. When we were staying at the cabin, we drove up to the top of Murphy Dome to watch for Aurora. I would recommend making the drive in the daylight to get the lay of the land prior to going at night.

During the day we visited the Museum of the North at the University. It was well worth the admission price.
We also did the Fountainhead auto museum. If you are in the least bit interested in classic cars this is a great place to spend Sunday afternoon (winter hours are 12-6 on Sunday only). We were lucky and started a conversation with a gentleman who turned out to be the manager. He took us on a tour of some of his favorite cars and also took us back into the restoration shop.

We also made the drive up the Dalton Highway to the arctic circle and beyond. You are not suppose to drive a rental car on the Dalton. However you can rent vehicles from specialty companies which are equipped for the trip. I chose to take the risk and drove the rental from the airport. The road is not bad if you are use to winter driving. Ironically, I found the section of the highway just prior to the Dalton to be more challenging than the Dalton itself. The views are just fantastic along the Dalton. We went 60 miles past the circle to Coldfoot before we turned around. If you don't go all the way to Coldfoot make sure to take some extra gasoline as there is no service prior to Coldfoot and you will be marginal on getting back depending on the fuel economy of the vehicle you are driving.

There is also a mirco brewry called HooDoo Brewery, they have a nice selection of brews but no food. We relied on Yelp for restaurant reviews and were never steered wrong.

sounds like you did what we did on our honeymoon with the rental car... WTF, it was light almost 24/7 in July... and we were revved up....

The B/B owners wondered where we'd gone.. we got in 4am or so from coldfoot. She said when they got up later they saw the white, now black car and knew.....

Grins.

Wow, those two recent pics are amazing!

March usually is a great time to take photos of the Auroras, since it's slightly warmer outdoors. But all depends on the weather since a cloud cover can spoil things. It means that it's not a bad idea to have the time to spend more than a week up here whenever possible. Search, "UAF: auroras forecast," and that will bring you to an excellent webpage. This one is also good:
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ovation/

If you "click" on the map that shows Alaska at the left of the screen, and enlarged version will appear on the screen. This version updates itself every 30 seconds or so as long as your computer is connected to the Internet. Just leave it open on the screen while you visit this and other forums
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The Auroras this year have been OK, but not as good as previous years. If active and the sky is clear, you can view them from the high ground at UAF, over by Chena Lakes and the Flood Project in North Pole, or by the high ground on the Steese Highway, about seven miles past the Pedro monument (the high point before you start the descend to Chatanika).

From this morning around 1:00AM:

That's frickin awesome Ray.

We love the ones that include the reds in them. Don't see those that often , but then we are usually only in AK 2 weeks every fall only.... makes it tough.

Two of my brothers are on their way up tomorrow and my other brother and I will join them next week. Can't wait for my first ever visit to Alaska, can't wait to hang with my three brothers, and hopefully cross off seeing the AB from our bucket lists!

been com the last couple nites ...but is supposed to really be going to nite ...a solar flare or something happen yesterday and is enroot

Damn, my two brothers already up there got a pretty good light show last night. Good for them, a big bummer for the two of us not yet there.

well my kid .blew up his sled today 5 miles south of chena pump / rosie creek .......3 year warranty should help ...he was headed to the ice classic in nenana ... ...where have the two bro's been thus far?