A faint flickering florescent light cast over the northern horizon as I arrived, the atmospheric effect of the sun's energy tangling with the earth's protective magnetic field.
At times appearing as a distant lightening strike, the green glow grew the later it got. I arrived at White Mountain Fire Overlook just before midnight. The Milky Way didn't appear as defined as it usually does because the aurora borealis shined its strange light. A car arrived right as I began a long exposure looking east across Sherman Pass, causing a fiery trail to appear in this photograph.
To the north: the green glow turned violet at its farthest reaches. To the south, deep night sky. I moved to Sherman Overlook to see if I could get an even better view only to find a large deer on the path. Each of us startled, we stepped cautiously away from the other.
My knees refused to stop shaking. The woods were alive in every direction. Rustling. Heavy branches snapping. A distant huffing. My mind ran wild with images of a moose trampling me or a cougar sinking its teeth into the back of my skull. I began to panic and fumbled my headlamp and tripped over my tripod.
With my lamp on and tripod tucked under my arm, I started back toward the car. Glowing eyes peered back. Am I imagining things? Suddenly, the eyes vanished to the distinct sound of a deer bounding away.
How do backcountry campers and Nat Geo photographers do it? There is magic in the night mountain air. Ethereal light and roaming might. Endless trees and knocking knees.
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