4/19/2023 0 Comments Fairbanks alaska northern lightsGlass-fronted viewing chalets at Northern Lights Resort & Spa In the evening, after dinner in the property’s restaurant and a few drinks in the bar and lounge, you can retire to your cabin to relax and maybe see the northern lights. You can spend your days here on dog-sledding, snowshoeing and snowmobiling tours. In addition to en suite bathrooms, sitting areas and heating stoves, they all have large windows to make the most of the lake views, and, if you’re lucky, the northern lights. Set amid the rugged landscape of the Yukon’s north, on the shore of Tagish Lake, this off-the-grid hotel is made up of traditional-but-comfortable log cabins, as well as some newer, more luxurious cabins. Off-the-grid viewing at Southern Lakes Resort Southern Lakes Resort, Tagish, Canada Even though they didn’t appear that night, it was lovely to have a common dream with people from all over the world. This made it easier to set up plans with my new friends to ensure that we’d wake each other up if the northern lights came out. If your hair dips into the water, it won’t take long to freeze solid, which I found alarming and amusing in equal measure.ĭinner is served family-style at a large wooden dining table in the snugly warm dining room, which gives you the opportunity to meet the other guests. My heart pounding, I tore across the ice at top speed, the big machine rumbling underneath me as the frigid wind stung my face and I kicked up a rooster tail of fresh snow behind me.Īfter an active day in the winter air, you can relax by the fire in the living room, or watch the sun go down behind the mountains from the outdoor hot tub. Then, I took it out on the frozen lake to see just how fast I was willing to go. Last time I visited, I spent a morning zipping along trails that wind through the piney woods. You can also take out the hotel’s snowmobiles. Daytime activities here include dog-sledding and snowmobiling tours to a secluded part of the lake, where you can warm up by the campfire. ![]() Set in an area that was a major transportation route for the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898, Inn on the Lake is a log-cabin-style hotel right on the shore of Marsh Lake. Snowmobiling at the Inn on the Lake Snowmobiling, Inn on the Lake, Canada The four lodges I recommend in the Yukon below are all at least 25 minutes from the nearest city, Whitehorse, so they all enjoy night skies free from light pollution. That said, you’ll need to be willing to brave the cold - night-time temperatures in the Yukon can drop below -30☌ (-22☏). Much of Canada’s Yukon territory extends into the Arctic Circle, which, alongside its low population densities and swathes of pristine wilderness, makes it one of the best places to see the aurora. And, some North American Inuit have tales that explain the lights as the spirits of their ancestors playing a ball game with a walrus skull. The Algonquin believed that the northern lights came from a fire made by their creator, Nanabozho. The lights have inspired legends in all the people who saw them regularly, including the indigenous people of the region. If your hotel doesn’t offer this service, I suggest you set your alarm to go off periodically throughout the night, to improve your chances of seeing them. Some hotels in Canada offer special wake-up calls or provide walkie-talkies so guests can alert each other in the event of a sighting. Not only are they unpredictable, they’re most easily seen during North America’s coldest months, blooming across the sky in the frigid hours between midnight and 3am. Seeing the lights requires a certain level of dedication and energy. Their form is also changeable, from rippling curtains or waving streamers to fast-moving dots, like a spotlight. They most often appear as a greenish-yellow, but you might also see blue, red and violet hues. The aurora borealis occurs when electrically charged particles from the solar wind collide with gaseous molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere. What are the northern lights? The northern lights ![]() A sighting is never assured, but here’s a guide to improving your chances. ![]() I spent an hour tucked under a warm duvet watching a celestial green glow creep up behind Cascade Mountain.įor me, the aurora borealis is one of the literal highlights of a trip to Canada or Alaska during the winter. I’d spent almost six months living in Banff trying to catch a glimpse, but it wasn’t until nearly the end of my first visit there that I lucked out. ![]() The first time I ever saw the northern lights was in the back of a pick-up truck, in Banff National Park.
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