I think this might be a "bad" winter for ice on the Lake Superior shoreline. So far this year it hasn't been cold enough for any significant ice to start forming. I stopped by here yesterday morning and the sky was pretty but if it weren't for the little bit of snow and ice on the island, you'd never know this was a winter shot. There is still a lot of winter left, though, so there might still be some hope for decent ice along the shoreline. Time will tell!
One thing I like about this mild winter is that many of the waterways are not yet frozen. This makes for a nice contrast to a white winter wonderland. Instead of a completely snow-covered scene you can find areas like this where the dark color of the open water contrasts sharply with the blanket of snow on the surrounding landscape. This photograph of the Brule River was made from the bridge on Greenwood Lake Road just off the Gunflint Trail.
Even though it's a couple of days late since I wasn't on the computer over Christmas, I still would like to wish everyone a happy holiday week! I hope you all are having a nice time over the holidays. Up here along the north shore of Lake Superior we got a nice dusting of snow yesterday. Here is a snowy photo of Hungry Jack Lodge along the Gunflint Trail in northeast Minnesota. Enjoy!
Here is another photo of Hungry Jack Lake from earlier this week. Also taken from Honeymoon Bluff, this time looking west across the lake (the last photo I posted was looking north). Typically the lake would be completely frozen by now but as you can see there is still a bit of open water. I really liked the little patch of open water for this photo, as well as the patterns in the ice. I would have loved to see this view on a nice blue sky day but it was very beautiful even on such a gray day.
The other day I took a drive up the Gunflint Trail to see how winter was progressing inland from Lake Superior. As you already know from my previous posts, winter along the Superior shoreline has been very slow to arrive this year. Instead of snow we've been getting rain. In fact, it rained again all day yesterday. Inland, however, it has been snowing more than raining thanks to cooler temperatures away from Lake Superior.
We had a big storm a little over a week ago that left quite a bit of snow along the Gunflint Trail. Amazingly, a week after the storm most of the trees were still coated in a thick blanket of snow. Usually our winter storms are trailed by high winds and indeed we did have a lot of wind along the Superior shoreline. Either there wasn't as much wind inland or the snow was so wet that it clung to the trees despite the wind.
At any rate, my drive along the Gunflint two days ago was like driving through a classic winter postcard scene. Everything was white, everywhere you looked! This photo was taken from the Honeymoon Bluff trail overlooking Hungry Jack Lake. I was surprised to see that the lake still had several patches of open water. Usually the lakes would be completely iced over by now. Another testament to the mild winter we're having thus far.
Here are a couple of ice detail photographs of the cliffs at High Falls. The photo I posted earlier today showed a wide-angle view of the entire waterfall. For these two photos I used my Tamron 150-600mm lens to zoom in on the amazing ice detail in between the two main channels of falling water. The ice that develops on this waterfall each year sure is fascinating!
It's Christmas week and while it may not look quite like full winter here along the north shore, it is at least trying to look like winter. High Falls in Grand Portage State Park is especially beautiful. Thanks to warmer than average temperatures the waterfall is not frozen as much as it typically would be. Also, thanks to recent rainfall instead of snow, the river level is higher than normal for late December. Still, it is trying to freeze and there is quite a bit of ice surrounding the falls. The combination of ice and lots of running water sure makes for a beautiful scene. Come on up and check it out for yourself!
