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Mesmerizing/Interesting Phenomena & Experiences Without An Eclipse

PaddlingPitt

PaddlingPitt

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I was thinking about Odyssey's comment in the Total Eclipse thread to "Keep in mind there are so many smaller miracles equally mesmerizing which we miss on a daily basis." True enough. I wondered with Kathleen what events in our lives truly stand out as mesmerizing, great or small. One of the most spectacular was when we left Vancouver to spend five winter months in a one-room cabin 300 km (200 miles) from the nearest road, 100 km (60 miles) north of the arctic circle. The following is from my diary on February 4.

I stepped outside to check the temperature, which read -43 degrees C (-45 F). Yowee! Above me spread a white mantle of Northern Lights, arching in wispy layers toward the northern horizon. Kathleen joined me on the south-facing knoll beneath the flagpole. The aurora borealis soared above our upturned heads. Rising like great columns of smoke from infinite campfires blazing below the southern horizon, the lights twirled, furled, folded and then fanned outward, until the eternal solar winds eventually hurled them beyond the northern limits of our vision. We stood transfixed for five minutes, until the penetrating cold drove us back to the warmth of our cabin.

Sorry I don't have any pictures, but I hope my words convey the scene. I'd enjoy hearing about other people's most mesmerizing/interesting experiences in nature and our universe.
 
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Tripping down the Kapikotongwa about a month after a forest fire has swept through. On a burnt over port everything was stark, angular and brilliant black and white. Granite boulders that had been covered in vegetation for hundreds of years stuck out like white eggs on a black background. The only other colour was somekind of pinky purple flower that had sprouted up all over the place, the only life in a scene of destruction. Many images have left my memory over time, but that scenery is still very fresh, probably because of the juxtaposition of the courageous little flowers amongst the blackened ruins.
 
I took this snip from a video on my YT channel Robin, it is very much like what you have seen on Marshall, prior to a good thunderstorm. It is spectacular to see for sure.
 

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It took a while to find the pic but I saw this rainbow on the last day of 2013. It is the one and only upside down rainbow I’ve ever seen, you can see the corner of a roof in the lower corner. The pic doesn’t do it justice but it almost looked like a planet we might have been orbiting around.
Jim

IMG_2746.jpeg
 
memaquay said:
Tripping down the Kapikotongwa about a month after a forest fire has swept through. On a burnt over port everything was stark, angular and brilliant black and white. Granite boulders that had been covered in vegetation for hundreds of years stuck out like white eggs on a black background. The only other colour was somekind of pinky purple flower that had sprouted up all over the place, the only life in a scene of destruction. Many images have left my memory over time, but that scenery is still very fresh, probably because of the juxtaposition of the courageous little flowers amongst the blackened ruins.
Click to expand...

I think the pinky purple flower was likely Pink Corydalis (aka Rock Harlequin). Below is what I wrote after photographing the plant on our Seal River trip in 1997.

The 1994 wildfire both destroyed and renewed life; everywhere above the rocky beach, pink corydalis sprouted through the ash-covered soil. The seed can persist for centuries in the soil, waiting for the next fire to release it.

Here is the plant. Does it ring a bell, Mem?

Seal024sz.jpg
 
Although it was a sea kayaking trip, I was with a group of students on spring break and camping on a barrier island just north of Charleston, SC. The night we were there, a total lunar eclipse was part of the night sky. I couldn't believe how lucky we were to have such an exceptionally clear night to see it. Lounging on the beach, listening to the waves crashing onto the sand and watching the night sky overhead, I just couldn't believe how incredibly lucky I was. I was also extremely happy for the kids I was with because I'm sure it was a once-in-a-lifetime event for them. What a night!

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

PS - Also been blessed to see the northern lights a couple of times but I'll leave that story for another time.
 
wildlife sightings get to me. A herd of elk swimming acros the river below camp, ,bighorn sheep, a fawn looking at me when I wake up from a nap. I like to find remnants of those that came before. Old lumber camps, homesteaders cabins and Peubloan artifacts.

A favorite memory was watching one Blue Angel Navy jet fly over our campfire in the desert and wave his wings.
 
There are aspects of city life I love, but I find there are two serious drawbacks, noise and light pollution.
I can only just make out a handful of stars from my urban backyard, surrounded as I am by streetlights and porchlights, and even late at night there is the occasional rumble of traffic. Perhaps that is why the serenity sounds of a canoe trip appeal to me, a light breeze through the branches, gentle water lapping on the shore, bird call in the forest. And the immense sky full of stars on a clear night is overwhelming. I'll sit for hours next to a low fire just gazing at the spectacle above. And when the conditions are right, a midnight swim under the blanket of stars is called for. I'm not sure if days and nights of tranquility with a full clear sky of stars fit this thread but these are mesmerizing things I miss when I'm away from that world and back at home.
 
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Once I paddled through what I can only assume was some sort of weird magnetic field. Maybe from the soviets? Maybe aliens? I don't know.

All I know is that for about 30 minutes my compass said I was heading south when I knew I was actually heading north and nothing on the map made sense. Then all of a sudden, as I emerged into an opening, the map, compass, and my brain all agreed and the world made sense again.

Crazy stuff, man.

Alan
 
One hot, moonless and crystal clear night really stands out in my memory. We were camped on one of our favorite island sites in the St, Regis canoe area in the Adirondacks. Close to midnight, in an effort to escape the heat, we donned our PFDs and swam out into the lake. Hanging motionless in the still water, suspended by the life jackets, the brilliant stars above merged with their reflections in the black water all around us. The elements combined to create a weightless sensation in a 3 dimensional natural light show. 35 years later my son, who was 12 at the time, and I still marvel at the magic of that night.
 
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