Where to View the Northern Lights Near Hinton, Alberta
My Northern Lights Viewing Locaton - Near Hinton, Alberta - Obed Lake Provincial Park
Viewing the Northern Lights has been on my bucket list since I started traveling, and despite favorable conditions during many Northern Lights chases, I always ended up disappointed. So, during a trip to Banff and Jasper National Parks in October of 2023, I didn’t have much confidence in being able to see the Northern Lights. My confidence was so low that I went back to my hotel and was preparing to go to bed when my Aurora App began lighting up with notifications. With favorable Northern Lights activity, I had to find a location near Hinton, Alberta, to view the Northern Lights.
I quickly looked on Google Maps for a location that had an open sky to the north. About 15 miles from my hotel in Hinton, Alberta, was Obed Lake Provincial Park, which was situated on the south shore of Obed Lake. Obed Lake Provincial Park seemed like the perfect place to view the Northern Lights near Hinton, Alberta.
The alternative to Obed Lake Provincial Park was to drive back to Jasper National Park. While Jasper would likely have some great viewing locations, I didn’t want to miss my chance to see the Northern Lights at their peak.
Where to See the Northern Lights Near Hinton, Alberta - Table of Contents
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How to Track the Northern Lights
To track the Northern Lights, I use an app called Aurora. This app is a free download in the Google Play and Apple App stores and provides up-to-the-minute information about the probability of viewing the Northern Lights.
Below are screenshots from the Aurora App. You can see that I had about a 20% chance of viewing the Northern Lights based on my location. Only once had I had a better chance of seeing the Northern Lights, but unfortunately, that time, the sky had been cloudy.
With clear skies and a decent chance to view the Northern Lights, I decided to get my equipment and head to Obed Lake Provincial Park near Hinton, Alberta, to hopefully see a spectacular Northern Lights show.
My Northern Lights Photos - Obed Lake Provincial Park - Near Hinton, Alberta
I was not expecting to attempt to photograph the Northern Lights during this trip, so I didn’t have the right lens. When photographing the Northern Lights, the photographer wants to have an extremely wide-angle lens with the lowest possible aperture (f) setting. The widest lens that I had with me was my Canon RF 24-240 mm. This lens was not ideal, as the lowest aperture setting I could achieve was f4.5. Since I couldn’t get my aperture in the f2 range, I had to up my ISO and use a longer exposure.
In the photos below, I added the file information to the right of each Northern Lights photo. The file information will show what ISO and aperture setting, as well as the length of the exposure, I used for each photograph of the Northern Lights.
It took about an hour before I was able to get my settings perfect. While my photos weren’t perfect, I was pretty happy with the way they turned out, as it was my first time photographing an impressive Northern Lights show!
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