I missed them the other night. But I've seen them a few times in my life when they were so spectacular it was literally breathtaking.
Once, we were camping at a remote spot on the edge of the BWCA between Ely and Finland, at Kawishiwi River - perfectly clear night, no moon, and no light but campfire glow or lanterns for 20-30 miles in any direction. The Northern Lights were cone shaped, from the horizon in 360ยบ to a small zenith "hole" straight above our heads. Inside this hole was nothing but stars, but the aurora radiated out from it in all directions, and the COLORS...! It was constantly and violently shimmering, red, purple, green, blue, pink, and with the occasional traditional pale silver thrown in to the mix to remind us how much more spectacular this was than what we were used to seeing.
The timber wolves were periodically howling in the distance, and at times, it was almost like a chorus for the lights. It seemed like there were a few moments when the howling would peak just as the lights peaked. No scientific observation there, just something we noted.
We laid on our backs watching this for over 2 hours, and during that time, there were ebbs and flows. We'd say, "Looks like it might be winding down..." only to have them serge anew, time and time again. At one point, I actually felt like I had motion sickness, and had to look away. But as soon as the feeling was gone, I was right back, gazing in awe again.
Finally it ebbed to the point where it was just silver shimmers in the Northern sky, and we turned in for the night.
I'll never forget it, unless God sees fit to take my memories.
