"The Silent Sentinel"

 

The forest is amazing at night. Especially on crisp, clear nights before leaf-out in the spring or after the leaves fall in autumn. I love the shapes that are revealed against the awesome backdrop of stars. Every tree is unique, but every now and then I find one that I am especially drawn too.  This one, which I call The Silent Sentinel, is one such example. 

I first came across the tree almost 10 years ago and ever since then I've wanted to return to it under the cover of darkness to photograph it with the night sky glowing brightly above. Of course, after thinking for so long about what it might look like at night, I certainly had an expectation in my mind. This was one of those rare cases where the reality was more beautiful than what I saw in my imagination.

 The Sentinel itself and the surrounding trees couldn't have been more ideally composed. I love how there is an opening in the tree canopy right above the Sentinel tree, and how all the other nearby trees seem to be gathered around it, as if the Sentinel is telling a story. This is my new favorite place to be under the stars in the northeast Minnesota forest. 

The Calm before The Storm

 

I spent the afternoon in the woods yesterday. And what a beautiful day it was to do that. Sunny skies, brisk temps in the mid 20's with a light breeze. I spent a couple of hours hiking through some really dense forest looking for what is fast becoming, in my mind at least, a mythical pine tree that one of my uncles told me about a few years ago. He told me roughly where it is, or at least, his memory of where it is. He said the base of this giant pine tree has a natural hollowed-out area that you can stand inside of. Hard to believe, as there are few trees large enough in northern Minnesota anymore for that to be possible.  But, this area has several old-growth pines that were somehow missed or left when the rest of the area was logged. 

At any rate, I did find at least 8 or 9 of these old-growth pines, but the mythical hollowed-out tree eluded me once again. I have tried a couple of other times to find it, also without success. I'm starting to think that I may never find it. And that's okay. If, by chance, I happen to come across it some day, it will be a happy surprise. While I was hoping to be successful in finding it today, the outing was a success nonetheless. For I did find plenty of beauty in the forest, as is always the case. 

Back to the title of this image. Its no surprise that this winter has been lame at best, as far as winters go. We have had virtually no snow pack at all, and the temperatures have been very mild. It is the least snowiest winter in my memory, hot on the heels of two of the snowiest winters we've ever had. That being said, if the hype is to be believed, we are set over the next few days to receive one heck of a winter storm. Forecasters are calling for anywhere from 12 to 20 inches of snow and 50 MPH winds. Hard to believe as I sat on the banks of the Pigeon River, listening to the ice boom and crack as the sun dropped below the tree line. But, as is often the case, storms are often preceded by moments such as this. Moments of relative silence before chaos settles in for a few days. 

A hint of northern lights

 

On a cold late winter's night, the stars shine bright and the Aurora Borealis dances elusively on the horizon. 

"The Dancer"

 

My dad and I came across this really intriguing tree a few weeks ago while out hiking around on some frozen beaver ponds.  The tree is dead and has lost all of its bark, leaving behind an incredibly smooth trunk. When I stood at the base of the tree and looked up at it, I knew immediately that I wanted to return at night to photograph it with the stars. The shape reminds me of a dancer striking a pose. I knew I had limited time to capture it at night, as the tree is in the middle of a beaver pond.  Once the ice melts, in order to get these photos you'd have to wade out into the middle of the pond. Luckily, within a week of discovering the tree we had a clear, cold night with lots of stars. I actually spent almost the entire night out in the woods photographing various trees in different locations, but this was the first one that I spent time with. 

More beaver pond explorations!

My dad and I have been out exploring beaver ponds again this past week. The lack of snow and temperatures cold enough to keep the water frozen have made for some really cool hikes to check these places out. A couple of the lodges we found were in old abandoned ponds that no longer had standing water in them. The lodges looked extra huge since we were also seeing the part of the lodge that is normally underwater. 

Golden Sunset on March 2nd

 

My dad and I went for a hike this afternoon/evening to a beaver pond hidden deep in the woods. We were treated to a beautiful golden sunset behind the taller trees on the pond. The clouds were changing a lot and several times we could see the disc of the sun through the clouds.