Oh, the things you see while out riding! This is another photo that I captured on one of my recent bike rides. I had ridden through the woods to get to the Pigeon River and see The Cascades, a beautiful section of river with a waterfall and cascading rapids within a deep gorge. After my visit to the river I was pedaling back out and saw a beautiful sunset over some nice aspen trees along the trail. Thankfully, I always have a camera with me so I was able to capture the scene!
Here's a photo that shows the Cascades gorge, which is just downstream from the area of the river shown in the photo that I posted earlier today. The water flows from left to right through this scene and normally there is a waterfall visible on the left, but right now it's solid ice. The open water you can see right in the middle of the photo is the pool that is at the base of the waterfall. Definitely one of the more interesting sections along the length of the river!
Earlier this week I took advantage of the hard, crusty snow conditions and rode my fat bike all the way in to an area of the Pigeon River known as The Cascades. This is one of the prettiest sections of the river, with some very photogenic meandering curves before plunging over a waterfall and into a deep gorge. While I was there the sun was setting and there were some beautiful clouds overhead. I was glad to have some nice photo conditions while I was at the river. It made the effort of getting there even more worthwhile!
An unforgettable night in the maple forest! For the third night in a row the solar wind stream produced visible auroras in the sky over northern Minnesota. It was cold but the beauty I witnessed was worth a little discomfort from the temperature, which got down as low as minus 9 while I was standing out in the woods making this photo.
I was pleasantly surprised to look out at the sky last night and see the northern lights dancing overhead! Aurora activity has definitely been on the quiet side the last few months, so it sure was nice to see some activity once again. It wasn't a big storm but as always it was spectacular to see the lights, even if they weren't super bright. This photo was made at 3:00 in the morning. The temperature was minus 3 degrees Fahrenheit, definitely one of the coldest nights we've had in the past month! (which isn't saying much... usually those kind of temps are the norm for February, but this year it's a different story with the month coming in quite a bit warmer than average).
One of the many things I love about winter are the long shadows created by the low angle of the sun. This afternoon photo of Jessica riding down the trail is a good example, chased by her own shadow.
I sure do love the maple forest. It's beautiful no matter what the season or time of day (or night, in this case).
