dear reader:

[ambientlight]

i have been in kaamanen, a village in northern finland, since the evening of march 31. the first three nights were overcast, but last night the sky was mercifully clear - so we went out onto the frozen river, in search of the northern lights. it was nearing 11 pm, but there was still some light on the western horizon.

long story short: we saw them. it was still going on when we left at 1 am, though the most intense displays were across an hour or so between 11:30 and 12:30. it was possibly the best hour of my life so far, and i can't really think of an experience which would rival it.

photos to come at some point; we used my travel companion's DSLR, since point-and-shoot cameras are apparently terrible at photographing the aurora, so i don't actually have the image files. photos are on facebook, but the album is on his account and the privacy settings are 'friends of friends', so.

Comments

[agitpunkt.livejournal.com]

うらやましい
why kaamanen? is it a hotspot?

[ambientlight.livejournal.com]

given that this is my second attempt and we're staying here for a week, i'm relieved that it succeeded. :D;;

i think my reasoning went like this:
- finland was the only nordic country i had yet to visit.
- aim to be somewhere above the arctic circle. inari seems a good place for it; check accommodation.
- cheapest option in the region is a guesthouse in kaamanen (http://www.jokitorma.net/en/index.php) which also happens to be on the edge of wilderness (hence far from light pollution)

...so we ended up here. i don't know if kaamanen is particularly thought of as a hotspot. from what i've seen it's more of a summer holiday area - lots of summer cabins, good fishing in the river and stuff.

[agitpunkt.livejournal.com]

haha, how cold was it?

[ambientlight.livejournal.com]

surprisingly warm! we packed for something like -15°C, but it's turned out to be between -5°C and +6°C (!).

[agitpunkt.livejournal.com]

whoa, that's super warm. did you ask if it was always like that around this time or global warming

[ambientlight.livejournal.com]

yeah, we asked -- apparently it can be warm-ish around this time? 6°C is a bit unusual (before the warm spell, the husband of the couple running the guesthouse recalled a high of 5°C back in '99, hee) but temperatures above 0°C aren't that uncommon.

[lesstraveled.livejournal.com]

that sounds amazing, so glad you got the opportunity!

[anappletree.livejournal.com]

Sounds amazing! I've been wanting to see the Northern Lights since first year but haven't gotten down to travelling to the Arctic Circle : p I'm soo jealous!