Bivouac on Granite Mountain - August 2000
Aug. 18, 2000: I went out and did my bivy on Granite mountain. We met up at the trailhead at 6:30 PM and despite what our leader had said about keeping a moderate pace we hauled butt up the mountain. We ascended 4000 feet over a 4 mile trail. We expected to have light packs but ended up helping out some volunteer rangers and carrying a bunch of window putty and supplies up the mountain to the lookout.
Once we dropped off our beastly burdens and talked with the rangers for an hour we hiked down a couple hundred feet to the snow field we were sleeping next to. We all settled into sleeping spots and did our best to get some sleep. Around 2:00 am I woke up shivering. After getting up, wandering over to the rocks, and doing some jumping jacks I laid back down and looked up at the sky. Now, I have seen the Northern Lights before but at 2:00 am the sky was lit up from the Northern horizon to as far above me as I could see (while laying flat on my back). About 60% of the visible sky was lit up and pulsating. The pulses would vary between white, light pink, and light blue. After oohing and ahh'ing for a couple minutes I decided that it was OK to wake everyone up. It turned out they were all awake anyway so a bunch of eyes and noses started peering out and gazing in awe at the best Northern Light show any of us (including those that had seen them in Alaska) had ever seen.
Now, lest you all think that I'm a terribly lucky person, I have to tell you: wait, there's more! Did I mention the shooting stars? I'll bet there wasn't one 5 minute period where I didn't see at least one shooting star. The average was about one ever minute my eyes were open (I can't vouch for the rest of the time). So, not only was there this incredible once every blue moon Northern Light show but also a meteor show that kept the night sky alive all night long.
And now, for the rest of the story: Did you ever wonder why I might have been awake most of the night to catch this spectacular light show? It might have had something to do with the sub-40 degree temperatures at altitude. Did I mention that our choices for sleeping were: snow (the frozen hardpack stuff), rocks, or nearly frozen tundra. Since we were doing a bivy, we didn't have tents, sleeping bags, or portable fires. We were essentially spending the night with our day packs and none of us were comfortably warm. Shortly after waking up the second time shivering, I led the formation of a puppy pile to share body heat and keep each other warm. Nancy got a coveted middle position and was the only one who stayed tolerably warm all night. We all got to learn a bit about survival and preparation in the mountains.