Foxes from Thanksgiving weekend...

My friends Dominique and Debbie came up this weekend and joined my family and I for Thanksgiving dinner. There was a lot to be thankful for... not only the food but the good company that was shared as well. We also had a beautiful gentle snow that was falling all day, our first snow of the year. We ended up with maybe 2 inches on the ground, just enough to make everything really pretty (and the roads really slippery). On Friday I joined up with Dom and Debbie and we took a walk to High Falls at Grand Portage State Park, then went to see if the foxes were still around. They certainly were.... and they seemed to be enjoying the new snow. Here are a few images that I made of the foxes over the weekend....

I hope that you all had a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend!

November Hiking

The leaves are gone, the grass is brown and there isn't any snow yet, but its still fun to get out and spend the day in the woods. For the past two Saturday's I've gone outdoors with two local friends who love to hike and be out in the woods as much as I do. Its fun hiking with them because, like me, they have a tendency to hike rather slow and look at everything as they hike. We often times will stop in a spot along the trail for several minutes to ponder the ice formations on a mud puddle or to inspect the growth of a patch of lichen on a rotting tree.

Last weekend we were hiking along the Pigeon River and were treated to the sight of no less than 6 otters swimming downstream, all in the same group. I spent a lot of time on the river this summer and saw 3 or 4 otters together, but never 6. Talk about a special sighting! Seeing the otters and hearing Shelley's greeting of "Boozhoo Nigig!" (Hello Otters! in Ojibwe) was really special. While hiking along the river we also found a stand of old pine trees, a few of which were really big. When both Ann and Shelley went up and hugged one of the pine trees, their fingertips just barely touched around the massive trunk of the tree.

Today we hiked along one of the snowmobile trails which skirts the edge of a series of terraced beaver ponds. We had very nice weather for the hike.... sunny skies and temps in the low 30's. As we stood on the edge of one of the beaver ponds we could hear the ice thumping and creaking as it settled in the cold. It was a fun day and I look forward to many more hikes like this one.

Icy Waterfalls

With some decent rainfall in the latter half of October and the first half of November, the Pigeon River is once again running pretty high. Lately our nights have been getting below freezing which means that with the high water and the mist that accompanies it, there is a lot of ice forming below High Falls and Partridge Falls. With all of the ice formations this is one of the most interesting times of the year to photograph waterfalls. If you haven't tried it, you don't know what you're missing! This may, overall, be the "ugly" time of the year, but that doesn't mean there aren't some really cool things to photograph.

Starry skies and moonlight on the Gooseberry River

Last night after helping Bill and Blake put up their timber frame for their cabin I drove down to Gooseberry Falls State Park to take some images of the river and the waterfalls in the moonlight. The skies were clear all day and by the time we were wrapping up the framing job it was starting to get dark and the skies were still totally clear so I knew it was going to be a good night for shooting in the moonlight. I arrived at Gooseberry at about 6:30 and the moon was just in the right position for some prime moonlight shooting on the river. I spent the next 3 hours photographing the river and had the park to myself for the whole 3 hours! It was a beautiful night... and with recent rains the waterfalls were in perfect shape for some great photographs. I had a lot of fun creating these images, so I hope that you enjoy them!

Raising a timber frame

Today my dad and I helped some family friends put up the timber frame for their cabin outside of Grand Marais, MN. If you've never seen a timber frame go up before, its a pretty neat process. The whole frame (with the exception of some screws which hold the frame to the foundation via some metal strips) goes together by cutting notches out of the timbers and by using drilled holes and wooden pegs to hold the timbers together. After helping out with Bill's cabin frame I'm thinking I sure would like to build one of my own someday. I can't wait to see the finished product when the cabin is complete. We had a nice day for the frame raising... it was a bit chilly but the sun was out and we were able to get the whole frame up by the end of the day.

(Above: My dad using the mallet to pound one of the corner timbers into the notch)

(Above: Bill with the timber framer's friend: the big mallet. My dad has been friends with Bill for many years, and it was his cabin that we were working on.)

(Above: That's Bill's son Blake on the left... Blake spent most of the summer working on cutting and shaping the timbers in preparation for today, when all the pieces would be put together to form the main frame for the cabin.)

(Above: The finished frame at the end of the day)

November Moon and the Ghost Maple

As everyone probably knows by now, I love to shoot images by moonlight. This evening before heading inside to watch the election results come in I spent a little time out in the woods making some images of the moonlight and the trees. In the images below, I noticed this tree earlier in the summer and ever since noticing its unique shape I've been wanting to shoot it in the moonlight. I call it the "Ghost Maple", because its shape resembles that of a figure with a head and arms... a very spooky profile (especially in the moonlight!)... like something out of a Tim Burton movie. While making these images I half expected the headless horseman to come trotting out of the woods :-)

After making these images I headed over to my parent's house and watched history be made. We watched the election results come in and as it became evident that Obama was probably going to win, I felt a great wave of relief and warmth come over me. I was VERY into the campaign this year... like many other people, more so than I have ever been before. There is just so much at stake this time around... and listening to Obama speak gives me hope. Sure, he's another politician... and without a doubt he faces some of the greatest challenges that a president has ever had to face. He WILL make mistakes along the way, but I do believe in him and I do believe that he will do a lot of good for our country.