Last week I spent about half a day exploring both sides of the Cascade River between Highway 61 and County Road 45 in Cook County, MN. I had been to both ends of this section many times before, but never hiked all the way up one side of the river and all the way back down the other side. It was a cool hike and a challenging one. My GPS showed a distance of about 9 miles with a total ascent of just over 2,000 feet. I photographed several waterfalls along the way, some (like the one shown here) I had never been to before. I also recorded a lot of video segments which I've put together into a video compilation. I will be sharing the video later this evening.
The conditions at High Falls were awesome today. Snow and ice, blue sky and a rainbow! Grand Portage State Park, MN
Call me odd, but I love the strangeness of the desert.
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.
Grand Portage State Park, MN - Fascinating conditions right now at High Falls, thanks to the ice and snow storm we just had over the past couple of days. Once again we are subjected to the beauty of winter! Only it's not winter... right?
Well, today was certainly an interesting weather day! Following immediately after a 24+ hour period of freezing rain/sleet, we were hit with an intense snowfall all afternoon. About 4 inches of new snow fell on top of the layer of accumulated sleet from the previous 24 hours. Hard to believe that May is only a few days away! In this photo a Minnesota Department of Transportation highway plow is clearing the way for traffic just before the Minnesota/Ontario border in Grand Portage.
When we visited the Cholla Garden in Joshua Tree National Park it was literally buzzing with life. There were thousands of native bees (and bee flies) all trying to take advantage of the blooming cacti. We love bees so as you can imagine we loved seeing so many of them here. We read that Joshua Tree has over 500 species of native bees! Very cool :-)
Winter has returned yet again to northern Minnesota. We are currently experiencing a weird mix of rain and sleet. The forecast was calling for pretty significant ice accumulations but so far that hasn't happened (not in Grand Portage anyway). I just went out for a short drive to check the conditions and see if there was any ice buildup on the trees anywhere (makes for GREAT photos!) but there was little to be found. The roadways are more slushy than anything. As always, our local plow crews are out making sure the roads are in the best shape possible considering the conditions!
