Vermilion Aurora

I just returned from two nights spent in Ely, MN and was lucky enough to have a nice aurora display while I was there!  Jessica was working there for the week and had a day off so I went up to spend the day with her.  We played tourist for the day, spending the morning at the International Wolf Center and the afternoon driving around exploring the area.  I knew that there was a good chance of aurora activity for Wednesday night so in the afternoon we drove around checking out various water accesses to find a good spot for photographing the aurora.  The location I liked most was within the newly established Lake Vermilion State Park.  This is Minnesota's newest state park and isn't even "officially" open yet, with no signs at all advertising the park or its location.  They are working on a new entrance road, however, so there is some access available.  We drove to the end of the new road and found a nice picnic area with some trails that are being developed along the lake.  There is a nice new fishing pier that faces to the north which we knew would make a great spot for aurora watching.  So, I decided that this was going to be the place where I would return that night to watch for the lights.  

I returned to the site at about 11 PM and when I arrived the lights were already in full swing, dancing throughout the sky.  Some light cloud cover did obstruct the view of the lights somewhat but after only a few minutes the clouds started to dissipate and made a nice complement to the view of the lights.  Before long the sky was completely clear but the lights had faded to a dull glow.  I decided to wait it out for at least a few hours and see if they would pick back up.  As I waited I was treated to the always glorious sounds of several pairs of loons calling from various areas around the lake.  I know there were at least two pairs, possibly 3 that I was hearing.  The air was unbelievably calm so the calls from the loons echoed for miles around.  Around 1:45 AM it seemed the lights were starting to get brighter so I started making exposures again.  Before long the sky was bright with the slow moving glow that is characteristic of a mild geomagnetic storm.  I watched as a small arc grew in size over the opposite shore of the lake.  The arc got bigger and bigger until it eventually no longer fit within the field of view of my 17mm lens.  Every now and then vertical pillars of light appeared within the arc and shot upwards into the sky, carrying amazing hues of red and purple light. Somewhere between 2:30 and 3:00 AM the lights faded back to a dull glow and I was starting to get pretty tired so I called it a night and headed back to the hotel in Ely.  This new state park sure makes a great location for watching the night sky.  There is hardly any light pollution at all and with the park being on the south shore of the lake, it's a prime location for watching the Aurora Borealis!