Day two, Part two

Finally, we cross a small creek, still flowing in places, twice to reach the camp up a winding, sloping trail. Laird stops to get water...more on that later.
There are two wall tents. One has four beds, this one is reserved for the two couples, the Swiss-Germans Casper and Claudia, and the German pair Yergen and Yasmine. Me and Alan sleep in the Kitchen tent, which has a bed and space for a foldout, and Laird sleeps outside, wrapped in as many layers as he can find.
Evening approaches, Everyone else gets to know all about Sage as I have to shout his name every thirty seconds to stop him from barking us all into busted eardrums. Bedtime finally rolls around and, eager to see the celestial Auroras, I stay awake until the late hour, 10:30, (that's late when the sun sets five hours earlier) and gear up into my Parka, heavy gloves, my new binoculars (bought in Fiji) around my neck, my headlamp on my head, beanie and snow boots and several layers of thermals. I sit on the chopping block and wait patiently for an hour and a half, futily, for the northern lights. At midnight, despairing, I pack it in and succumb to sleep, heding back into the kitchen tent, restoking the wood stove to keep warm, and crawl into my sleeping bag.