Happy New Year's Eve everybody! It sure was a cold day today, so this evening I'm sharing a cold sunset photo. When the rocks along the shoreline get coated with ice I think they look like eggs, so I call this "Sunset Ice Eggs". Hard to believe tomorrow is 2018 already!
The cold is pretty brutal out there today. My car was reading minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit on the way to work and on top of that it is very windy. According to the forecast the winds are gusting to 30 MPH and the wind chill values are ranging from minus 30 to minus 40 degrees. I stopped a couple of places on the way to work to take some pictures and in one of those places I could only stand to be outside the car for a minute or two because the wind and cold were so brutal. If you can find a spot protected from the wind, however, it's not that bad. The location along the Bay Road in Grand Portage where I made this photo had some pretty good protection from trees behind me and I had no problems standing outside to make some photos (keep in mind I was bundled up for the occasion). It is beautiful out there today but if you head outside make sure you have plenty of layers on!
Sunburst Saturday! Here's another cold, sunny image for today. An icy, frosted cliff along the Lake Superior shoreline in Grand Portage, MN.
It's a sunburst kind of a day! Clear and cold, beautiful blue sky and blazing sun. And ice! Lots of ice coating the rocks along the shoreline!
Flowers of frost on the Lake Superior shoreline. If you look closely you can see hundreds if not thousands of tiny ice bubbles layered beneath the frost flowers. Some of them even look like agates!
Sea smoke, clouds and sunlight make for a surreal image on a minus 20 degree morning on the Lake Superior shoreline in Grand Portage, MN.
Minus 20 degrees on the morning of December 27, 2017 on the Lake Superior shoreline in Grand Portage, MN. I was going for lens flare on this one and got one of the coolest lens flares I've ever seen!
A cold (minus 20 degrees) but beautiful morning on the Lake Superior shoreline in Grand Portage, MN.
This morning my wife Jessica and I bundled up and ventured out into the minus 20 degree weather to watch the sunrise over Lake Superior near our home. Thankfully there wasn't any wind because it sure was cold! Without the cold, though, there wouldn't be the incredible steam (or "sea smoke", as many people call it) to see and photograph. Sea smoke is one of my favorite things to photograph. It sure adds a lot of interest to a photo.
It's Christmas Day and whether you celebrate the holiday or not, I sure hope you have a great day filled with adventure, fun and family. It's cold up here in the north woods of Minnesota, and it shows. Lots of ice on High Falls of the Pigeon River in Grand Portage State Park!
Can you tell I've been a little obsessed with ski trail photos lately? Ha ha. So, here's another ski trail photo from our outing at Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park near Thunder Bay, Ontario. Abstract shapes and patterns really intrigue me. When we rounded a corner of the trail and saw the light accenting the difference between the classic and skate tracks, I just had to stop and make another photo.
My wife Jessica going for it and bombing one of the hills on the River Terrace Trail at Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park in Ontario. What a great day for skiing!
We couldn't have asked for a better day on the trails yesterday! December 23, 2017 at Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park, Ontario.
Ski conditions along the Gunflint Trail are heavenly right now! This past week we made it up to Bearskin Lodge for a couple of days of skiing and not only were the trails in prime condition but we had them almost completely to ourselves. We only saw a few other people out there. There is plenty of snow on the ground for the majority of the trails to be groomed and most of the trees have a thick blanket of snow on them which makes for a winter wonderland!
Yesterday we went up the Gunflint Trail again to do some more skiing. For part of the time we were up there it was snowing beautifully. The trees were covered in a fresh blanket of white. I made this photo from the overlook on Ridge Run midway through our ski.
It was a glorious day for skiing this past Wednesday after several fresh inches of snow fell on the north woods of Minnesota. Central Gunflint Ski Trails - Gunflint Trail, Minnesota.
Yesterday we headed up to Bearskin Lodge on the Gunflint Trail to play in the new snow that fell overnight. It sure was a beautiful day! It was fun to be the only skiers out on the trails and to be making the first tracks in 4 to 5 inches of fluffy new snow. I made this photo as we were nearing the end of our ski, heading back along Summer Home Road towards the lodge. The ski tracks, clouds, sunlight and tree shadows all combined to make a beautiful photo that really summed up what it felt like to be out enjoying the day.
Very cool to see the Interlake Steamship Company's "James R. Barker" traveling so close to the shoreline yesterday. It was a cold but beautiful day. The clouds were nice for this shot and the cold air made for a nice trail of steam coming from the ship's stacks. When I spotted the ship it's tail end was just disappearing from sight around Tamarack Point on Grand Portage Bay. I had to drive to Horseshoe Bay in Hovland to get a little ahead of it then wait a few minutes to make these photos as it passed the bay.
After spending a few hours on the bike this afternoon and evening it was a nice treat to see the moon rising through the fog and trees. Such a beautiful end to a nice day in the woods!
Grand Portage State Park, MN. The ice on High Falls is always very impressive this time of year. I find it endlessly fascinating to view the variety of ice formations that develop on the waterfall. Every day it's a different view!
