Northern Lights and NEEDTOBREATHE

Torin and Darius, blissfully unaware of the unexpectedly magical weekend that was coming for their parents in just a few hours.

Once every couple years, I (Maggi) hear rumors that the aurora borealis will be visible in areas north of Coeur d’Alene. People prepare to stay awake into the wee hours of the morning and drive to these remote locations to take photos and videos of what’s sure to be a spectacle worthy of the lost sleep. The next day, I hear a lot of, “it wasn’t very visible,” “it was too cloudy,” and “it was there, but we couldn’t really see much color.” Because of this, when I hear about a solar storm that could lead to visible Northern Lights over Idaho, I tend to be pretty skeptical. That’s how I felt when Brent told me (and some friends) about it on a Friday night before driving from Moscow to Coeur d’Alene for Mother’s Day weekend. I knew it meant he would bring his camera gear and be out late, long past our arrival in Cd’A—and I wished him luck on his search, sure that he would need it.

I was wrong!

About 20 minutes into our drive, I looked out my window and saw a massive vertical band of white across the sky. We pulled onto a side road just south of Potlatch and started taking photos that revealed blue and green skies with only 3-second exposures. Torin was sleeping soundly, and Darius wanted to understand the science behind it all. We were so happy to be seeing something neither of us expected to see in Idaho! After a few shots, we got back in the car to continue the drive. Feeling like I had seen all there was to see, I eventually fell asleep, grateful for the photos we had just taken.

Shot with Canon EOS 1D X Mark II and EF 16-35mm f/4L at 10:07 pm, south of Potlatch.

Shot with iPhone 14 Pro at 9:52 pm, south of Potlatch.

What we saw an hour later blew that first stop out of the water. I woke up to Brent pulling onto another side road and looked out the window again, this time to the entire sky exploding with colors that flowed and changed. We pulled into a field and jumped out, scrambling with our phones and Brent’s big camera to capture what we were seeing. Shades of green and hot pink stretched across the entire expanse of the sky, and Brent and I were like giddy children while the boys slept in the car. Messages poured in from friends and family in a 100-mile radius, all witnessing the same spectacle, whether they were in the city or the forest.

Shot with Canon EOS 1D X Mark II and EF 16-35mm f/4L at 10:57 pm, south of Worley.

Shot with Canon EOS 1D X Mark II and EF 16-35mm f/4L at 11:00 pm, south of Worley.

Shot with iPhone 14 Pro at 10:56 pm, south of Worley.

[Brent taking over the writing…]

We left from there and continued to enjoy the spectacle up to Cd’A, all of it clearly visible from the car. It was an overwhelming experience—nothing subtle about it. Upon arriving at the house, we successfully transferred our sleepy boys into their beds without issue—a miracle of its own, to be sure. I (Brent) was ready to go out for more. Even just stepping out the front door was very encouraging, as seen below.

Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max at 11:51 pm, Coeur d’Alene.

I made my way to the Rathdrum prairie and was left with very minimal activity. I ended up using the time to experiment with some foreground elements and light painting. Nothing spectacular, but fun to play around with it. As I finished up those shots, I got to experience the wild and rapid dancing of the aurora, which is not something I knew about or expected. This stuff can move so fast!

Shot with Canon EOS 1D X Mark II and EF 16-35mm f/4L at 12:59 am, south of Rathdrum.

At this point I finally get in touch with Brent Looyenga and we plan to meet up somewhere along Fernan Lake. I stayed out until about 3:00 am and saw many wonderful and varied forms of the Northern Lights. I continued to experiment with light painting—you’ll see some red light at the bottom of the following frame from my headlamp.

Shot with Canon EOS 1D X Mark II and EF 16-35mm f/4L at 1:40 am, Fernan Lake, east of Coeur d’Alene.

Shot with Canon EOS 1D X Mark II and EF 16-35mm f/4L at 1:42 am, Fernan Lake, east of Coeur d’Alene.

Shot with Canon EOS 1D X Mark II and EF 16-35mm f/4L at 1:49 am, Fernan Lake, east of Coeur d’Alene.

Shot with Canon EOS 1D X Mark II and EF 16-35mm f/4L at 1:50 am, Fernan Lake, east of Coeur d’Alene.

The only thing that did not work out about our plan was the lake itself, which did not lend itself well to being a foreground element. The number of shots I have with the lake in it are minimal.

Shot with Canon EOS 1D X Mark II and EF 16-35mm f/4L at 2:18 am, Fernan Lake, east of Coeur d’Alene.

I am fairly happy with this time-lapse considering I had never done this before, but the road we were on ended up being very busy with traffic (due to the Northern Lights, of course). Many flashes from headlights appear over the course of recording, but the movement and coverage of the aurora, as well as its shifting colors, is what fascinates me the most. This was shot from 2:33 am to about 3:00 am.

Unfortunately, due to the wholly inadequate WiFi at our Airbnb, the NEEDTOBREATHE portion of this post will have to wait until later.

We also discussed the above on episode 25 of Adventures with BAM.