Autumn in Border Country

Yesterday I took a drive up the Arrowhead Trail and made my way back onto the reservation via Otter Lake Road and Rengo Road.....the color was very nice! I went for a hike along the Border Route Trail to the overlooks onto North and South Fowl Lakes.... as I was sitting on the rocks looking out over the lakes, I looked over to my right and there was this little chipmunk sitting there right next to the edge of the cliff... I quickly attached my telephoto and grabbed a nice shot of the chipmunk with nice color in the background.

After my hike I took my time driving through Rengo Road and by then a small breeze had picked up.... making for some nice fluttering leaves along the side of the road, which I attempted to capture using slower shutter speeds. To top off the drive, when I was almost all the way through Rengo Road, I saw a Bald Eagle! Another great day in Border Country :-)

Autumn Details

Yesterday two friends (Paul Sundberg and Paul Wannarka) came up for the day to shoot the fall color..... Our plan was to go to Mt. Sophie for the sunrise, but it was cloudy and rainy and we were running a little late..... we had decided to head up to the tower anyway but on the way we noticed some really nice light on the horizon so on impulse we pulled into Hollow Rock Resort. We saw about 5 minutes of nice light through the fog over the lake as the sun rose, then decided to head up to Mt. Sophie. They were hoping to see some of the glorious color that I had captured from the tower on thursday, but unfortunately friday's wind and rain knocked most of those leaves down. They were still impressed with the view, however :-)

(Above image: Reflected color on Turtle Lake)

Even though the good color from the tower view was gone, the color along the roads was in its prime. So, we spent most of the day driving along some of the roads and stopping whenever we came to an area that looked conducive to good shots. It was overcast and a little rainy, which wasn't the best for the tower view, but actually works out quite well when you're taking pictures under the forest canopy. There were many interesting finds throughout the day, but the hands-down highlight was finding the leaves on the maple stump..... the patterns on the stump made for such a nice complement to the leaves resting on the stump that we couldn't believe our good fortune to have found such an amazing sight. It just goes to show you how much more you can see, if only you slow down and take the time to look at the little things.

What a wonderful world

The above image shows an area of the reservation where I live that is one of my most favorite places to visit. This is a view from the Mt. Sophie fire tower, which is one of two old fire towers that remain on the reservation. The lake is called Swamp Lake... it has wild rice and is also favored by loons. It looks like a good lake to see moose on, but I have yet to see one in this location. I spent the better part of almost 2 weeks getting up early and going to this fire tower looking to get just this type of shot....watching as the colors progressed....almost every morning the light was either not that great, or it was really windy, or both.

Well, this particular morning (September 20), everything came together. I had about 20 minutes of really nice light just like you see here (including ZERO wind), then the sun went behind the clouds and it was VERY overcast for the whole rest of the day! As sometimes happens with fall color, this area was at peak color for less than 24 hours as the next day brought torrential rain and incredibly high winds and by the end of friday more than half of these leaves had been knocked off the trees by the weather. After taking some photos from the tower, I drove around on some of the roads and got some shots of the color along Old Highway 61 and Rengo Road as well.

Early autumn sunrise on Mt. Sophie

One of my favorite things to do is to sit and watch the light from the rising sun as it washes over the landscape in front of me. It is a beautiful sight indeed, no matter what the location, to just sit back and enjoy as mother nature takes out her brush and paints with light.

On this particular morning I chose to watch the show from the Mt. Sophie fire tower, which oversees Trout Lake and Swamp Lake on the western edge of the Grand Portage Reservation. I also wanted to see how much fall color (if any) there might be….. and I was pleasantly surprised to already see some very nice color in the maples along the tops of the ridges!

Sunrises are rarely a dull affair from this location and this particular morning did not disappoint. Its quite enjoyable to watch as the tops of the trees catch the first rays of light, then see it wash over the rest of the trees from top to bottom as the sun continues to rise. As I sat and watched the sunlight wash over the ridges I could hear woodpeckers working away at some of the trees in the forest below me. The wonderful light show coupled with some of the sounds of the local residents makes for an unforgettable experience.

After watching the rest of the sunrise I took a drive to the end of Partridge Falls Road and sat by the river for a little while, catching some of the early light on the river as well….. then it was off to work for the day….. but what a great start to the day!