Northern Lights, 2024

The exceptional show of Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) over the last few days has been covered extensively in the news. The reason for this event is traced back to sunspot activity, specifically in a sunspot cluster designated Region 3664, which is at least 15 times wider than the earth! Solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) associated with these sunspots recently ejected huge amounts of energy and charged particles into space.

CME, which are massive expulsions of charged particles from the sun, are primarily responsible for the aurora on Earth. CME produce huge clouds of charged particles that fly away from the sun at high speeds, but always considerably slower than the speed of light. Light carrying information about CME reaches earth in 8.3 minutes, while the charged particle clouds from CME typically take a day or two to reach earth. So, we can see the CME particles coming, and make accurate predictions of the aurora they will cause.

When these charged particles near earth, they are steered towards the poles by the earth’s magnetic field. At heights of 60-620 miles above earth the particles collide with atoms in earth’s atmosphere sending these atoms (mainly nitrogen and oxygen) into excited states. When the excited atoms return to their ground states, they emit the colored light that comprise the aurora.

Friday, May 10

The pictures above were taken Friday night looking north across the lake from our deck. The colors of the Northern Lights come out nicely in these pictures, but by naked eye I could just see that the sky was unusually bright.

The Northern Lights were evident towards the west as well. The image to the left is the night sky Friday around midnight, and the image on the right shows the scene in daylight on Saturday.

Looking south, the night sky was brighter than usual, but not colorful.

Saturday, May 11

The following night the Northern Lights made the sky brighter, but colors were not as evident.

img_1348

The photos above were taken of about the same view, looking north across the lake. They show the contrast in the night sky from Friday, May 10, with Northern Lights, to Monday, May 13, under normal conditions.

Note about low light photos taken by iPhone

All these photos were taken with my iPhone, with no special preparation or settings. It must automatically use digital processing to allow fairly sharp hand-held long exposure shots, as seen in these photos of the Big Dipper.

Hike to Stewart Falls, April 8, 2024

Stewart Falls is a dramatic, reasonably accessible waterfall near the Sundance ski area; it is east up the Provo canyon from the Salt Lake City metro area. Hiking to the waterfall from the trailhead near Aspen Grove was a 3.6-mile round trip. The change in elevation along the trail is about 780 feet, but it is up and down and did not seem too taxing.

The biggest challenge presented by the trail was snow. Despite it being a warm day in early April, there was plenty of snow on the trail and it was slippery in some of the steep sections. Hiking poles would have come in handy.

Gorgeous scenery on the way to the falls.

Stewart Falls

Videos that show the falling water.

Scenery on the return trip was also beautiful.

Neff’s Canyon Trail

Mountainous hiking trails are remarkably close to Salt Lake City. One example is Neff’s Canyon trail; its trailhead is shown on the map below, right at the east edge of the Salt Lake City suburbs.

The trail is steep, ascending 3562 feet over its 3.5-mile length. For my first visit, on January 9, I only ventured a mile up the trail, and climbed 700 feet according to my Garmin. This first mile seemed steep to me, but the further 2.5 miles are even steeper.

The trailhead of Neff’s Canyon Trail

Near the trailhead the dominant trees are Scrub Oak, only a mile up the trail White Firs have taken over.

Dramatic view of mountainous geology seen from the trail.
From the trail you can look down on Salt Lake City and see the Oquirrh Mountains in the distance.
Another view of Salt Lake City and the Oquirrh Mountains to the west.

Signs of Fall in August

Already in August there are clear signs of approaching fall in North-Central Minnesota. It may be that leaves are turning early this year because of our dry conditions.

Looking east in early evening from west side of Leech Lake
Leaves yellowing slightly on tree on the west shore of Leech Lake.

Alder and hazel bushes rimming the shores of our lake are starting to yellow.

Staghorn sumac along roadsides is starting to turn red.

This maple was red on August 16, exceptionally early.

The Lost 40; A Remnant of Old Growth Forest in Minnesota

Because of a surveying error in 1882, 144 acres of forest in North-Central Minnesota were never leased to a timber company and therefore were spared from logging. Today the area is designated as the Lost 40 SNA (Scientific and Natural Area) and features a hiking trail of about one mile winding through huge red and white pines.

The red marker indicates the location of The Lost 40 in North-Central Minnesota
The map above shows detail around the Lost 40 SNA, including the ~1 mile hiking trail.

The highlights of a visit to the Lost 40 SNA are the towering red and white pine trees that are up to 240 years old.

A plaque along the trail provides the history of the Lost 40

A visit to the Lost 40 isn’t complete without a stop at the Hoot-n-Holler in nearby Alvwood MN.

Mill Creek Canyon, Utah

A benefit to life in Salt Lake City, Utah is the proximity of the city to the Wasatch Mountains. Recently for a hike in the mountains we drove up Mill Creek Canyon to the Upper Big Water Trailhead, just 9 miles east of the 215 Beltway in the city.

Subalpine Fir (Abies lasiocarpa)

Trees in Mill Creek Canyon include Subalpine Fir, Engelmann Spruce, and Quaking Aspen.

Many wildflowers were blooming on this day in early August.

Bigleaf Lupin (Lupinus polyphyllus)

Dwarf Fireweed (Epilobrium latifolium)

Cow Parsnip (Heracleum sphondylium)

Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja miniata)

Richardson’s Geranium (Geranium richardsonii)

Mill Creek