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
Disclaimer: At Buzzin’ Around the World, we do our best to offer the most factual information that was available to us at the time of posting based on our research. If you believe something on our site is incorrect or misleading, please email us.
We follow all local, national, and international laws and ordinances based on our best interpretation at the time of posting. If you are a representative of an organization that believes one of your ordinances has been violated, please know it was not intentional. To have content removed, please email us.
Finally, under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.
We use affiliate links to help pay for fees associated with our website. When you book a service (i.e. flight, hotel, tour) or purchase a product through any of our links, we may/will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Buzzinaroundtheworld.com may be compensated for reviews posted on this website. We always review each product truthfully.
Buzzin’ Around the World uses our individual travel experiences to write our content. All photos and content are original. Buzzin’ Around the World sometimes uses AI to generate titles, summaries, or descriptions of our original work.
For more information, please click HERE to visit our private policy page. We can be reached at buzzinaroundtheworld@gmail.com.
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!
Buzzin' Around the World's Affiliate Partners
Affiliate Partner of the Month - Viator
Viator is my favorite website for booking tours and packages. With over 300,000 unique tours to choose from, everyone should be able to find something on Viator that interests them. I like Viator because anytime I have an issue with a tour company, Viator has intervened and helped on my behalf. I highly recommend using Viator for booking your tours and vacation packages.
Book Through the Link Below to Help Buzzin' Around the World Earn Commission
Earn $200 in Travel Rewards with the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Card
The Capital One VentureOne Rewards Card is one of the few rewards cards that does not charge an annual fee. Cardholders can earn 1.25 points for every dollar spent while enjoying 0% APR for 15 months.
Currently, Capital One is offering a signup bonus of 20,000 points (worth $200 in travel rewards) when the cardholder spends $500 in the first three months. If you are interested in this card, I would appreciate it if you would sign up with the link below, as I earn a referral bonus of 10,000 points. Those points are worth $100 in travel rewards and will help me continue to bring great content to Buzzin’ Around the World.
Once again, the Capital One VentureOne card is one of the few reward cards without an annual fee and is the perfect card for someone who is just starting to get into the travel points game.