During fall, it sometimes pays to check the aurora forecast, as sometimes the activity of the northern lights can be so high that it reaches as far as Northern Vancouver Island in BC, Canada.
One of the best places to experience the Northern Lights from Vancouver Island during high activity days is from the Cluxewe Resort. Take along a camping chair and set up on the beach so that you can watch the lights dancing in the sky above the Queen Charlotte Strait and Malcolm Island.
You may not realize it but from Port McNeill and Cluxewe you are looking North as opposed to East so the lights are literally right in front and/or above you.
Be sure to check out more pictures and information about Aurora Borealis which are also known as Northern Lights.