Our tour led us away from the city of Tromsø to an area to see and interact with sled dogs.   We missed our dog sled riding excursion when we missed Narvik but the purpose here was really to go to a darker environment in hopes of seeing the northern lights.

We saw Tromsø’s Arctic Cathedral all lit up in the distance. We’d be visiting there the next day.

Along the way our guide was checking apps for various values on atmospheric load and particles and said she was optimistic that we would see the northern lights.

She told us a bit about the science behind the lights.   Very basically, there is a process involving solar eruptions, particles, plasma and electrons.  It is the end of the solar eruption that is sometimes visible in various colors.

The sun has an eleven year cycle of maximum and minimum solar eruptions.  The maximum is projected for 2025. As a result 2024 and 2026 are also projected to be very good.  We did not know that when we booked – just a fortunate coincidence. Don’t plan on taking this tour in 2030 or 2031, the low part of the eleven year cycle!

We arrived at our destination and started with the Alaskan Husky Dogs while waiting for the lights to, hopefully, develop.  (Yes, this is Norway, and yes, I wrote Alaskan Husky Dogs.)

Dogs go through training to be chosen to pull a sled with a team.  They are highly socialized.  Appearance is not important.

Most of the dogs were in their shelters but some came out for a people visit.  

This dog was tucked into his shelter but one was just laying on the ice. He was so still that several of us that thought he was dead.  Someone alerted a handler and he assured us that the dog was fine.  He said that this particular dog gets too warm in his shelter and often sleeps outside.

We learned that Norway has the longest dog sled race in Europe and the second longest in the world.  The longest is the Iditarod in Alaska. 

We gathered in the field and our tour guide’s optimism paid off.  At first we saw the faintest whispers of white, whispy “clouds.”  

After a very short while, we could recognize the difference between the clouds and the northern lights.

The color is far more visible through the camera! Our eyes saw white with a slight hint of green.  (We saw white lights moving in Alaska and had not realized that we should have looked through our camera.)

It was an exciting night seeing the northern lights on our first real opportunity!

The skies were clear enough that we could see the stars within the lights.

Randy took all of these pictures just with his iPhone 15 Pro camera. He had cold fingers!

There were fires set up for warmth.

There was also a Sami Lavvu available to see artifacts and also warm up a bit.

After experiencing enough of the lights, or in my case getting cold enough to want to move on, we went to find the husky puppies!

This is their next generation of Alaskan Husky Dogs.  They are four months old. Their kennel has inside and outside areas.

It was a good night – dogs and northern lights – what more could we want!

We saw the lights in Tromsø on January 17, 2024.

Next Up: More from Tromsø