How a Simple Morning Changed Me

A Rare Fog Bow on Denali 8, Alaska

(Warning:  Waxing Rhapsodic)

I admit that I get so focused on photographing animals sometimes that I fail to notice little else. Here we are, seeing all these wondrous landscapes and places, searching every bend for something new, but I’m still hungering for more animals. Then I wake up to a dreary morning after a night of rain with fog so thick we can’t see ten feet in front of us. And I figure it will be a miracle if we can identify a creature, even if it plants itself on the road directly in front of us. 

Then God laughs and tells me I have no idea what He can do. I can almost hear His gentle chuckle. 

We watched the sun struggle through the fog, giving the camp an eerie glow. Waves of clouds rolled over us, sometimes extremely heavy and dense. Temperatures were in the low 40s, and the damp air penetrated our sweatshirts. 

Camp in dense fog, Denali 8, Alaska

Sam, thankful to be out of the truck, climbed the sand hill we were camped next to, looking almost regal. Then, of course, she returned to her silly self, playing (what we affectionately call) wacko dog.  

A brief respite from the dense fog… then another cloud rolled over us. We guessed that the density of the fog was due to clouds coming off the nearby glacier. 

Another wave of dense fog

Then, there it was, a white rainbow arched across the horizon. I had never seen anything like it. It was a perfect arch and undeniably a rainbow, but completely colorless. 

As soon as we reached cell service, I looked it up. I learned that it was actually a fogbow, an incredibly rare and extraordinary phenomenon caused by dense fog and sunlight. 

The website earthsky.org explains them, “Fogbows also go by the names white rainbow, cloudbow or ghost rainbow. They’re made much as rainbows are, from the same configuration of sunlight and moisture. Rainbows happen when the raindrops fill the air. You always see a rainbow in the direction opposite the sun. Fogbows are much the same, always opposite the sun. But the small droplets inside a fog or cloud create fogbows as compared to larger raindrops that create rainbows… Because the water droplets in fog are so small, fogbows have only weak colors or are colorless.”

So we marveled at the sight. We took photos and panoramics. Quite honestly, I haven’t felt this awed since we saw the northern lights for the first time. 

How great Thou art, Dear Lord… to take a simple foggy morning and turn it into something beyond spectacular. You are, indeed, absolutely amazing. Thank you. 

My shadow under the incredible Fog Bow