Blazing Aurora

This past weekend our family made it up to Slate Creek, our home away from home. We’ve been going to this place since our kids were in diapers. It’s a remote little spot down from Harts Pass and is part of the Slate Creek Mining District. Here we hike, collect rocks, look for gold, camp, play card games with the kids, star gaze, and explore the valley and it’s mountains. We also take pictures of the things we love most; Mountains and skies. Its peaceful, quiet and is a place we look forward to visiting each summer after the snow melt. This trip was a little different from our previous trips as it was the first time we stayed so close to our claims and had a chance to camp in a private area. Though our camp site was rough, it was bliss.

The drive in was slow. Roads where rough from the 7 slides that happened the week before but luckily we made it up safely. We knew fires where in the area from the information we received from the Guard Station at Harts Pass and local weather reports. Unfortunately all trails closed and PCT hikers were advised to abandon the last leg of their journeys. Despite this, Harts Pass itself was still buzzing with traffic. We kept tabs on the fire with our radios and knew we would be safe on this trip. We planed to stay just through the weekend in hopes of seeing some of the Northern Lights that were forecasted to happen. A text was sent to one of our good friends via satellite and we got a text back saying that the lights were on. As we started up the mountain we noticed some hazy smoke starting to fill the sky but we had hopes of beating it to the top. 7000’ feet up, we found our window. Our spot with a north view allowed us to capture some of the brilliant colored lights dancing across the sky. To the naked eye, it looked like white mist but though the lens of the camera, you could see all the color. The camera also picked up some of the forest fires as they flared up, glowing bright orange. It was an eerie sight but an amazing one… To see the smoke, fire and aurora together… Beautifully sad.