Weird and Wonderful

What a great night!  Eighteen of us headed off to Spook Mountain (in the desert, of course). Our goal was to view the strange mists that appear on moonless nights.  The mist will appear suddenly and light up - then disappear just as suddenly.  It doesn't just waft away - one second it's there, the next it's gone.

We built a very large bonfire, had a quick dinner and lots of snacks (including Pecan Pie flavored Pringles!) and even managed to find a Geocache.  Then we sat down to watch the show.  Sure enough, as soon as it got dark, a small patch of mist could be seen, with flickering lights at the base.  Then, a few minutes later, a thick mist rose up and lit up with bright pink lights.  It stayed lit for several seconds then *poof* it was gone.  Unfortunately, that was the end of the show for that night.

 That was okay, since we had to leave anyhow.  As I've mentioned, most Snowbirds start to nod off around 8 p.m. so activities tend to end early.  Maybe that's why they don't have Daylight Savings Time in Arizona - it would disturb the circadian rhythm of all these old people.

Sunset over Spook Mountain

A couple of days later, Lynda, Syd and I went back out with a plan to stay out there much later.  We got an amazing show!  The lights came and went for over 2 hours, sometimes chasing each other across the base of the mountain - going from left to right and then just as rapidly reversing direction.  Around 9 p.m. it just stopped. (must be the Snowbird Effect)

 There are a lot of theories about these gases - some say the mists are lit up by lights from passing trains or from cars on the highway.  This would be a great explanation except for 2 things:  there were no trains when we saw the lights and the cars are on the other side of the mountain.  There are no other sources of light in the area.  National Geographic came out a few years ago to view the phenomenon and could find no explanation for it.  The only theory that would work is that they've hired some recluse to live in a cave at the base of the mountain and do special effects lighting on random nights.  Nice job if you can get it, I suppose, but not many perks.