We’re green with envy about this White Mountains National Recreation Area aurora borealis light show. Just an hour’s drive north of Fairbanks, this @mypubliclands managed recreation area offers stunning scenery, peaceful solitude and can be an ideal place to camp under the “midnight sun” or in this case, the midnight green. 

Located just an hour’s drive from Fairbanks, Alaska, the one-million-acre White Mountains National Recreation Area offers stunning scenery, peaceful solitude, and outstanding opportunities for year-round recreation. Summer visitors to the White Mountains pan for gold, fish, hike and camp under Alaska’s midnight sun. In winter, visitors travel by ski, snowshoe, dog team and snowmobile to enjoy the 12 public-use cabins, 250 miles of groomed trails and the spectacular sight of the Northern Lights dancing overhead. Photo by Bob Wick, Bureau of Land Management, @mypubliclands

Standing head and shoulders above the crowd, “the Mountain” dominates the of landscape Denali National Park and central Alaska. On clear days, Denali can be seen from as far away as Anchorage and Fairbanks. While clear skies are common in deep winter, with intense cold locking up moisture, summer skies are often cloudy. This photo taken in late summer shows Denali looming large. If you look closely, you can even see a moose on the tundra. Photo by Jay Elhard, National Park Service.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute estimates the auroras are visible 243 nights a year from the Fairbanks area. Many photographers escape Fairbank’s ambient lights by traveling the Elliott or Steese Highways to capture the auroras. A popular destination is the Wickersham Dome Trailhead parking lot at mile 28 and nearby pullouts on the Elliott Highway. Those trails lead into the Bureau of Land Management-managed one-million-acre White Mountains National Recreation Area and its winter trails. Here’s a photo taken near the Wickersham Dome Trailhead.

Photo: Karen Laubenstein, BLM-Alaska