A few degrees of separation

I’m a good week behind spectacular nights to blog right now, and as I looked back on this night to choose photos to blog, the thought of really missing the mountains of the Yukon fell heavy on me. I do miss it so much, and knowing entire mountainsides are yellow, orange and red with snowy peaks this time of the year doesn’t make it any easier.

The strongest call back to Yellowknife after those 3 years in the Yukon was needing to feel genuinely fulfilled in this again. So many nights in the Yukon, I would study the weather and chase down clear skies through the extensive highway infrastructure outside Whitehorse, but to be left with very, very quiet auroral displays, or sometimes no auroral activity at all. It repeatedly broke my heart, for myself and my guests. I struggled morally, so badly, with those kinds of nights. I hated feeling so close yet so far, with nothing more I could do. And it wasn’t just a few quieter than usual nights per year, it was far more often and it was killing me. It was the few degrees of separation in magnetic latitude between Whitehorse and Yellowknife relative to the aurora oval, and this I knew for sure.

“There is nothing better than escaping a terrible forecast.”

I wanted again to be in a place where I knew that if we could find clear skies, that we’d usually have the aurora waiting for us, or that we’d have a genuinely sound chance of still a beautiful auroral display, and that place really is Yellowknife. I knew it in my heart, but it was difficult to admit because I was building a life in Whitehorse and one I really, really loved. The decision of whether or not to come back to Yellowknife was clear, but difficult to come to terms with. For one of the first times in my life, I was making a purely cold hearted decision, emotions completely aside.

While this night a week ago wasn’t a drive of great distance, it did require a little shuffling around and ducking out of cloud. The hours that followed our final move were some of the most breathtaking I can remember.