Aurora

I remember a night at Gray Knob when the whole sky lit on fire with the aurora. It was 27 years ago tonight.

My friend Steve Weber, aka Swebco, was there that night, and we sat on the edge of Knight's Castle, a rock outcrop a few hundred feet above Crag Camp, and grooved on the incredible celestial fireworks. I even got some great photos.


from Knight's Castle looking at Crag Camp

I finally hit the sack at 3:00 am, only to be awoken by Swebco, who a half hour later was pounding on the wall of the building yelling:

"Get back out here, it's better than before."

Here's my log entry the next day, July 26, 1981 (scroll down on the link):

July 26 - Incredible Northern Lights last night.The whole sky was lit up with curtains and streaks of pulsating light. We sat up on Knight's Castle and watched the incredible celestial fireworks.-- SMC, Caretaker.

I've seen the aurora a number of times since, including the amazing red aurora that most of north America apparently saw in November of 2002 (saw it out in my backyard in VA!)

Wired has a new article on the mechanics of the Aurora, worth a read.

The ghostly flickering of the Northern Lights is caused by explosions of magnetic energy, say astronomers.

Until now, nobody knew why the aurora sometimes shifted and danced across the sky. And all it took was a fleet of five satellites positioned in the magnetosphere and a team of ground-based observers who caught the beginning of a magnetic storm about 80,000 miles from Earth, or a third of the way to the moon.

Want to see where the aurora might be seen? Click here and then click where you live on the globe for a daily forecast.

The Spot

There's a spot on Lowes Path in Randolph New Hampshire that's a special one for myself and a couple of my friends. It is situated above a place called the Quay, which provides the hiker with an incredible view to the north and west of Nowell Ridge on Mount Adams. Our spot is called the caretaker's throne, and it is a rock "chair" that I would sit in at some point every day I worked up on that mountain. It was that place where you could think about the world, yourself, and how incredible it all is--connect. It truly is my place, even though I have not been up there now for a few years. The picture above shows my friend Pete sitting at the spot, watching the intricate winter weather swirl around.

I came across a blog post that talks about these special spots in nature, and ways we can get to know them better and articulate what they mean to us. Check it out and give it a try.

March at the Knob

March always brings back fond memories of our times in the eighties (and 1990) at Gray Knob. Few hikes can match a run up Lowe's on a bluebird day with three feet of snow on the ground. Each section, the flats, the first hill, upper flats, the stairs, the lower and upper chutes all bring a different set of challenges tempered with the solace and beauty of the changing forest. The snow softens the sounds, with only the crunching of your boots (we never, ever, needed any stinkin' snowshoes on Lowe's), crisp air, and the songs of a pair of chickadees in your ears. This is paradise.

While I was only a spring and summer caretaker, three of my closest friends were in that ultimate vocation, winter caretaker at Gray Knob. This job provides the incumbent with cold temps, rough weather, stunning silence, and the best sunsets, coupled with an unsurpassed outdoor playground. There were visitors too. Living at the Knob provides far more powerful influences than any television or xbox could ever kindle.

Because Pete and John and Phil were up there, I was a regular visitor, sometimes staying for two weeks at a time. Weekend trips always brought the three am arrival, which they always looked forward too, or at least tolerated.

As the years have passed, the ability for a caretaker to communicate exactly what they are experiencing to you and I has become easier. We had the logbooks, some of which have been transcribed, and some which have been locked up to protect the guilty.

Now the Randolph Mountain Club website has a running journal going from the 07/08 winter caretaker, Sally Manikian. There are also other caretaker journals available. Read her stories and get an understanding of why this place has such a powerful influence on the folks who have lived there.

Here's one of her pictures, of the Davis Woodruff Memorial Rocking Chair, at the Quay.

Report From NH

John Corrigan reports in the Concord Monitor on the NH Leave No Child Indoors Forum.

Did the crowd reflect a new national movement, or simply the recognition by a lot of concerned people that young people are too sedentary and not getting outside nearly enough?

More From NH

Outdoor writer John Corrigan writes about fishing and kids. Who wouldn't want to catch one of those landlocked salmon?

It was a day to reach out and touch ... well, something cold, wet and slimy. Some complain that we cope with this time of dwindling daylight and declining temperatures by turning our attention too quickly to the holidays.

NH Children and Nature Forum

Here's the program from yesterday's New Hampshire Leave No Child Inside Forum: A Community Conversation about Connecting Children and Nature.

And more on the NH Initiative.