"Because it is not only about the lights, but the stories behind it that excite me"
Back then, I had never expected to see the northern lights in Kuopio. Though I had heard about these rare sightings, I never expected to be that lucky to see the lights so close to my home. It was a Friday night and I had gone out with my bike to click the sunset (late summer sunset at around 8.30 pm), but by the time I could negotiate a hill and reach the other end of the town, it was already dark. However, the darkness had a surprise for me in store. Like every other day, I halted at the Särkilahti bridge to catch up on my breath from the 30 km ride. I was about to ignore a man thinking he was just out with his dog, but he had his camera and eyes fixed towards the sky. I would have missed the faint aurora but thanks to him it was my first encounter with the northern lights.
The September equinox is one of the times when the solar activity is at a peak and the chances of seeing the auroras are higher. It was also in the news about a certain day or days when the aurora might be visible — the start of the season. I decided to improve my chances by travelling further north to Oulu and was accompanied by a friend. At Oulu, we also put up at a place close to the beach which is among the best places to see northern lights in Oulu according to Oulu Aurora Spotters group. But this trip taught us yet another lesson about travel and hunting auroras — be humble, keep your expectations in check and enjoy whatever comes your way. Every night might be not yours. It was overcast for both the nights we spent there and only cleared just a few hours before we were about to travel back to Kuopio. Even though our target remained unfulfilled, we ended up exploring the city amid the autumn colours.
Not one but the start of three shows. Due to changes in Covid related travel rules, I had to cancel my trip to home in India and I ended up exploring Finland over two weeks. My first destination on the trip was Oulu. Hoping to catch up on some aurora this time, I again took an apartment close to yet another better aurora viewing spot a bit farther away from the city centre. But just like the previous time, it started getting overcast as soon I reached the city — the curse of Meghalaya. Clouds wouldn't let me miss home. Cut to the second night. At around 9 pm, I got a notification on the Oulu Aurora Spotters FB group that the auroras were visible. Immediately I reached the Meri-Toppilan puisto which at that time glittered under the white full moon. On the far end of the Gulf of Bothnia, I could feel some strange lines amid the dark sky. My camera was much better at picking up the colours than my eye. Not much of a great show but definitely my first successful aurora chase! I returned after staying there for over an hour.
After spending two nights in Oulu, I reached Rovaniemi — the capital of Lapland. This is where most people visit in Finland during winters — for just two reasons: Santa Claus and auroras. The office of Santa Claus is located just a few kilometres outside the city, right over the Arctic circle. Being on the Arctic circle, Rovaniemi also happens to be the place where you could start seeing the auroras. It is said to be visible every other night during the winter months. The town has several companies that offer aurora hunting tours and one among them was Arctic Road Trips. I had been following them on Instagram for quite some time and their pictures made me determined that I had to take a trip with them. Thankfully I found a seat in their car for that night and we started the chase around 7.30 pm. After driving for about an hour outside the city, we started seeing the auroras. Still faint but understandable. We halted at a place close to a lake to get some pictures till the auroras started getting further faint and also as more people started coming in. Next, the chase took an adventurous turn as we decided to hike up a hill to get some better views. Though at the end we couldn't see much of aurora from the top, I would remember the night for the hike under the moonlit sky through the magical snow-covered alpine forest and an amazing barbecue.
The northernmost point of my trip was Kiilopää. Given its location, I was hoping to see some nice aurora and had planned to stay atleast three nights. Even as I reached the place, the weather looked beautiful with the crimson hue over the horizon at noon marking the polar night's sunrise/sunset. But soon the curse started haunting me again and the weather turned bad to the extent that there were strong winds and snow on the second day. I tried hiking up to the fell but had to return from mid-way as I could hardly find the trail. However, for the next five days, the overcast conditions actually helped me by maintaining the temperature around -10°C else it would have been difficult for me to bike and hike in the fells of Kiilopää. Christmas finally brought in some presents — the night was clear and indications were high. I along with another South Korean guy ended up hiking halfway to the fell. But soon we realised that the winds were too strong to stay there for long and the blowing snow made it difficult to take clear pictures. We descended to a spot where the wind was comparatively low but the auroras were not that strong. The camera could just manage to capture a starry sky with a flat greenish background. Also, though Kiilopää is an isolated place with minimal inhabitants, it is the lights from Saariselkä in the north that prevented a nice view.
It was another uneventful Friday night and I was not expecting much. Just before I was heading to bed, I saw an Instagram story about the lights visible further south in Tampere. I cross-checked in the aurora live cam and it was seriously there. The next thing I did was to go out to the balcony and check the skies — clear it was. Yet without much excitement, I went to the lake and started checking if my cam could see anything. There was something green. I now had to see where can I see them better. From all the pictures I had previously seen, I knew it is usually visible in the direction of Puijo tower, so I found a nice place and pointed my cam there and started a time-lapse shoot. The auroras were pulsating in the sky. But for some reason, I had to turn to the other direction and realised that the actual show was going on there and was getting better that I could capture it on my mobile camera as well. At this moment I knew I had to call someone who couldn't afford to regret not having seen the aurora — for the first time — so close to home. We spent the next two or three hours enjoying the show as it got crazier. Even for me, I would like to mark this as the first real show and I am glad I saw it with some good company.
At around 7-8 pm when I was enjoying some home-cooked biriyani, I saw an Instagram story that the auroras were visible over Kuopio. Either I had to skip enjoying the biriyani and head out for the aurora or vice versa. I choose biriyani as I knew I had missed the show already. Yet, after dinner, something in me was telling me to go out as auroras get better towards late night, but then there was cloud cover prediction. I reached the same spot from where I had seen it exactly a month earlier. Nothing much visible to the naked eye but my camera got a bit of green hue. I spent almost three hours there from 9.30 pm to 12.30 am with my camera pointed towards the sky hoping for the auroras to get a bit crazier and get a nice video of it. Unfortunately, nothing much happened except a few sparks in the sky and the passing of haze over the frozen lake. A bit disappointed and having almost drained both the camera batteries I started heading back. Just as I came outside the forest, I couldn't believe the entire sky was lit up. I wasted no time redeploying my camera but was not sure which direction to point to. It was all over the sky, getting greener bit by bit even on a full moon night and easily visible. Even here I spent another half an hour or so. I was by now already about five hours outdoors in the cold and decided to head indoors — warm-up, get my batteries recharged and come out again. The real surprise awaited me close to my apartment. Just as I took the turn to reach my building, I saw the greenest aurora ever with my eye. But by the time I could take out my camera and shoot it, it was off. LOL fact: The brightest aurora I saw was just over the apartment where my friend 'who couldn't afford to regret not having seen the aurora' stayed, but unfortunately she was not in town.
My take on seeing auroras. Spotting aurora is like spotting a Royal Bengal tiger in Sundarbans. You might be tricked into believing a patch of cloud as aurora, just like you might see the black stripes of a tiger among the tall mangrove grass. You need both a keen interest and understanding to track them. Also, the best things come when you least expect them. There were a couple of other times I headed out with high expectations but returned home with an empty memory card.
Stay tuned! With more aurora chases, more exciting stories to come.
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