Flood stage on the St. Louis River

Taken during our trip down the shore to view the rivers at high water levels after the heavy rain. According to the USGS site, the water was flowing down the St. Louis at a rate of approximately 20,000 cubic feet per second when these photos were made.

Afternoon Sun over Caribou Falls

Taken last Tuesday during our impromptu 'waterfall tour' down the shore. We stopped at a few different waterfalls that day, but Caribou Falls is always a highlight. Not very many people visit this one compared to many of the other north shore waterfalls, which means that you usually have some time to yourself to enjoy this beautiful drop in the river. We were lucky and got there just as the sun was dropping down behind the trees.

Temporary Lake

Thanks to the heavy rain from a couple of days ago, new "lakes" have popped up in areas that are normally dry. This field is a perfect example. While this is normally a somewhat wet field, it almost never has standing water in it. Right now, though, it looks like a lake. I was pleasantly surprised the other evening when I drove by this location and found the 'new lake' with the amazing cloud reflections!

High Water at High Falls

High Falls at Grand Portage State Park on May 25, 2012 - The Pigeon River has risen 5 FEET in the last 24 hours from yesterday's heavy rainfall!

Flood stage at Gooseberry

Heavy rainfall on May 24, 2012 brought the Gooseberry River up to flood levels the morning of May 25th.  I was only able to spend about 2 hours photographing the river this morning, but could have easily spent 2 or 3 more hours.  It was amazing!

Thunderstorm over Wooly's Bluff

Taken last night at the end of the Arrowhead Trail at McFarland Lake.  We were hoping for clear skies to try some star trail photography over the lake, but with the forecast calling for rain we knew it wasn't a good chance of clear skies.  On the other hand, we knew that with the forecast being what it was there was a possibility of seeing some lightning if the thunderstorms that were forecast arrived early enough.  Sure enough, not long after we arrived at the lake it was very cloudy and we saw some lightning flashes across the lake.  Before long we were seeing lightning bolts coming down on the far shore.  It made for a fun show for about an hour, then the rain came and we had to pack up our gear.

Fire Tower Star Trails

 
















Here is a 43 minute exposure of the night sky taken last night, May 18, 2012.  There was supposedly a 40% chance of minor geomagnetic storms last night, so we went out to watch for the northern lights. We never saw any northern lights, but the stargazing was amazing.  There also was a line of thunderstorms moving across Canada about 20 miles north of where we were.  Since we were on top of a large hill with a good panoramic view, we were able to watch the lightning flash on the horizon while the sky directly above us was flooded with stars.  No northern lights, but still a beautiful night!

(P.S. The lightning was all to the north, and this photo was taken looking to the west, which is why you cannot see any of the lightning in this photo).